Haunted Life
by agent.girlsname
Summary: Blaine Anderson can see dead people and it's brought him nothing but trouble. So he resolves to ignore them as he starts a new school. But the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore, especially seeing as Kurt isn't actually dead...
1. Chapter 1

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Haunted Life

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.

As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, but the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.

But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it...

'_**William McKinley High'**_

Blaine Anderson looked up at the sign above the door, his whole body filling with trepidation. This was it; a new start.

His old public school had been a complete nightmare, and when the bullying had become too much he had been moved. Dalton had been a lot better, but once his secret came out not even the zero tolerance take on bullying could stop the staring and whispering.

He was knocked form his thoughts by a jock with a mullet slamming into his shoulder, moving on without even stopping to look at him.

Blaine shifted his backpack onto his shoulder and took a deep breath, steeling himself before he walked through the doors to his new school.

'Ok Blaine, welcome to the school, if you'd like to take a seat next to Tina there I'm sure she'll help you catch up to where we are in the textbook.' Mr. Schuster smiled at Blaine, waving him to an empty seat next to a young Asian girl looking out of the window with a bored expression on her face.

Blaine smiled and took his seat, doing his best to ignore the man hanging by his neck from a rope in the corner. The man's eyes bulged and his hands twitched uselessly by his side, legs jerking in an attempt to gain some purchase and save himself from his horrible demise.

He didn't let his eyes linger on the dying man, avoiding looking in that corner at all costs. No one else in the room could see him, they didn't have Blaine's 'gift'.

Blaine scoffed. Since when was being able to see dead people a 'gift'? All it had ever done was bring him trouble.

He noticed Tina looking at him strangely and forced himself to focus. He had been so determined to ignore the hanging man in the classroom he hadn't even taken out his books yet. He set the textbook on the table in front of him and took out a pen, looking over at Tina and scrambling for something to say, he would not start out this school making people think he was strange.

'Hi, I'm Blaine.' He said, introducing himself, Tina smiled at him, reaching over to his textbook and finding the page the rest of the class was on. He sighed in relief. They had covered all of this in Dalton ages ago; at least he wouldn't be behind in his classes.

By the end of the class he was sure he'd made a friend, Tina had even offered to help him after school to catch up with the rest of the class, Blaine had been too polite to say he was already ahead.

'I can't do this afternoon though, I have glee club.' She said, packing her books away as the bell went.

'Glee club?' Blaine repeated, he'd tried to join in with the Warblers, and had gotten on quite well before everything had come out. He'd love the chance to sing and perform again.

'Yeah, the New Directions. Can you sing?' She asked, noticing the interest in Blaine's eyes. 'You should come along, everyone who tries out gets in, we need everyone we can get. Especially now.' She looked so sad all of a sudden Blaine was worried she might start crying. But then she blinked and the sadness was masked.

'I'll see you there.' He said as they left the room.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. He had managed to get himself lost four times, spent five minutes trying to get into a locker which turned out to belong to a blonde cheerleader who at least was kind about it, if a little aloof, and two different sets of jocks had slammed him into the lockers.

But there had been no pointing or whispering. So far, so good.

None of his other classrooms had dead people in either, which made it easier to concentrate on his lessons. He quickly found out the boys restrooms near the canteen were to be out of bounds for him. A boy had slit his wrists on the bathroom floor and his ghost was slowly bleeding out; blood coating the tiles and seeping under the door of the stalls.

He quickly backed out of the door, thankful that there was no one around to see him run away from a seemingly empty room as if the hounds of hell were chasing him.

He shuddered and looked for his English classroom, just one more lesson to get through then he could check out the glee club.

He had spent most of his English class thinking about which song he would audition with, finally choosing a song by Pink he knew he could pull off at a moment's notice.

He felt a little sick with nerves as he stepped into the classroom. A room full of people he had never met, except for Tina, turned to look at him as Mr Schuster introduced him.

He took a deep breath and listened as the band struck up the familiar notes, feeling the music wash over him and sweep the anxiety away. He knew he could do this; this was something he was good at.

When he was finished there was a polite round of applause and he took a seat next to Tina and another Asian boy that she introduced as her boyfriend.

'Ok, I'm sure we're all very happy to welcome Blaine into the New Direction, especially now that it means we have enough to compete at Regional's with.' A short brunette stood up and stole the attention of the club. A couple of the girls rolled their eyes as soon as she began to speak.

'But we need to get down to business and decide which duet Finn and I are going to perform.'

There was a general murmur around the room but one voice stood out to Blaine above them all.

'Oh sure, let's make sure Finn and Rachel have yet another duet to sing together. Don't worry about letting anyone else have a chance Mr. Schu!'

Blaine looked over to the boy leaning against the piano who had spoken. He was standing right beside the music teacher, but Mr. Schu didn't pay any attention to him.

'And I think it would be best if we kept Kurt's song in it, it's a real crowd pleaser and I think I'll do just as good a job with it, if not better, and make him proud.'

'What? You can't take my solo Rachel Berry.' The boy exclaimed, pushing himself off of the piano and striding over to stand right next to Rachel. 'I worked my butt of for that solo, I deserve it and you get every solo already!'

The boy, who Blaine assumed was the Kurt that Rachel mentioned, was practically screaming in her ear but Rachel didn't even acknowledge him. Warning bells sounded in Blaine's head, he was definitely a ghost, one that was still walking around and trying to interact, not an echo of a person in the last few seconds of their life like most of them were.

It was this type of ghost that usually caused Blaine all the bother.

Kurt sighed in annoyance and cast his glance across the room. Blaine looked away suddenly, but it was too late, Kurt had already caught him staring.

'Can you see me?' He asked tentatively, walking away from Rachel who was arguing with a few members of the glee club who thought that Kurt's solo should be dropped out of respect.

Blaine did his best to ignore Kurt, keeping his eyes focussed on Rachel as if she was the most interesting thing she had ever seen, clenching his hands together to stop them shaking. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid.

'Hey, can you hear me? You were just looking straight at me.' Kurt insisted, moving into Blaine's line of sight so Blaine had to put extra effort into looking past him. It was harder than normal seeing as Kurt was so solid, lacking the tell tale transparency most ghosts had, if it weren't for the fact that no one else was looking at him, Blaine could have sworn Kurt was real.

'Why are you ignoring me?' Kurt demanded, putting his hands on his hips and glaring down at Blaine.

Sweat was breaking out on Blaine's brow in the effort to ignore Kurt. His eyes kept threatening to betray him and glance at the boy yelling at him, but he knew that would be a mistake. Once a ghost knew they had found someone who could see them they usually didn't leave them alone. Blaine had spent most of his life being hounded by spirits who wanted favours. A message sent to a loved one, evidence being pointed out to police who had missed something and many more things.

It wasn't that Blaine didn't want to be helpful, quite the opposite in fact. At first he had done all he could to help, but things always turned difficult. You couldn't pass a message to a loved one from their recently departed without them suspiciously demanding you tell them how you knew such information. Or point out evidence to the police without them suspecting you know more about the case then you do.

So Blaine had started to refuse to help them, explaining politely that he just couldn't do anything, but that hadn't worked either. When he declined to help the ghosts began to get mad, shouting at Blaine or threatening him. one man who had walked in front of the bus and wanted the bus company sued followed Blaine around for four days, screaming at him day and night until Blaine eventually broke down in math class, sobbing into his textbook and refusing to calm down until his mother came to collect him.

'Please, I know you can see me, please help me.' Kurt asked, bending down so he could look into Blaine's eyes. Blaine quickly turned to look at the boy in the wheelchair who was now speaking. He heard Kurt sigh gently and by the time he looked back at Rachel, Kurt was gone.

Kurt had stayed away for the rest of Glee club and Blaine had almost fooled himself in thinking he had tricked Kurt into thinking he couldn't actually see him after all.

But as he was collecting his books from his locker he could feel a presence beside him. He sighed heavily and turned around. Sure enough Kurt was standing behind him, arms crossed in front of his chest and looking a lot calmer then he had in the music room.

'Hi.' Kurt smiled. 'I'm sorry about earlier, I realise that, if you're the only one who can see me, getting you to talk to me in a room full of people wasn't exactly the best idea.'

Blaine turned back to his locker and nodded slightly. Even though they were alone in the hallway he didn't want to risk anyone who might walk past seeing him.

'Can we talk though? No one else can see me, or hear me and I could really use your help.'

Blaine huffed and slammed his locker shut, walking over to a classroom and making sure it was empty before he closed the door behind him. He leaned against the desk at the head of the classroom and waited for Kurt to follow him in.

He was a little surprised when Kurt seemed to use the door, most ghosts just headed straight through the walls. But Kurt passed through the closed door almost as if by habit.

'Thank you.' He grinned, standing in front of Blaine. His smile faltered when he saw the expression on Blaine's face. 'What?'

'Ok, let me get one thing straight, I can't help you. I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, but no one believes me when I tell them I can see dead people, it just lands me in the psychiatric unit and I've more than enough of that throughout my life thank you.' Blaine said, trying to read the expression on Kurt's face. He was frowning, but he didn't seem angry or upset.

'I'm not dead.' Kurt said. Blaine sighed heavily. This was surely the worst kind of ghost, the kind who didn't believe that they were dead and wanted a genuine explanation as to why no one could see them. Even showing them their obituary of grave wasn't enough to convince them and Blaine was usually left with a hysterical mess following him around for a few days until they gave up and left him alone.

'I'm sorry Kurt.' He said, putting as much sympathy into his voice as he could manage and still sound genuine. 'I'm so sorry but you are, that's why no one else can see you, you're a ghost. And there's really nothing either of us can do about it.'

Blaine stopped suddenly; Kurt was looking at him as if he was crazy.

'No, I'm really not dead.' He said, speaking slowly and raising one eyebrow. 'I'm in a coma.'

Blaine really wasn't sure what to say to that. 'Coma?' He repeated.

'Yes, I've seen myself in the hospital bed; I've heard that doctors telling my dad about my condition. I'm still alive, I just won't wake up.' He paused and looked up at Blaine. 'Which is why I need your help.'

'Um, ok.' Blaine said, a little taken back by the sudden change of events. He had never come across this before, all the ghosts he saw were dead, end of story. 'What uh, what can I do for you?'

Kurt smiled and Blaine felt a small flutter in his stomach as he realised for the first time that this boy was actually quite beautiful, especially when he smiled.

'I need research.' Kurt said simply.

'Research?' Blaine cursed himself for continuously repeating what Kurt said.

'Yeah, I mean, I can hardly open a book or turn on a computer can I? I keep standing behind people on the computers in the library whispering suggestions to them, but it doesn't seem to work like it does in the movies.'

'I know, movies lie.' Blaine said sadly.

'Anyway, I just need to find out how to get back into my body and then I can wake up and tell them who did it.' Kurt said, a light shining in his eyes that Blaine was sure, logically, couldn't be there.

'Who did what?'

Kurt looked at him with a sombre expression.

'Who strangled me and left me for dead.'

_**Comments are love 3**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Haunted Life: Chapter Two

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

_Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying._

_As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, but the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore._

_But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it..._

'How was school?' Blaine's father asked as soon as he walked into the kitchen. It was a pretty simple question but the implications were clear; 'Did you show yourself up? Has anyone found out about your _problem_?'

'It was fine, I covered a lot of the work we're doing already so I'm not behind in any classes. And I've joined the glee club, so I think I'll have a few friends.' Blaine said, watching his finger trail along the counter top to avoid his father's gaze.

'No little incidents then?' His father gave him a hard look over the top of his newspaper. Blaine shook his head.

'No, none at all.' Blaine gave an uneasy smile, as though his father could feel he was lying, that he could somehow feel that Kurt was standing over his shoulder, reading the page of the newspaper he was on. But of course he couldn't, he didn't even believe that Blaine could, that was the problem.

'Good.' His father said finally, turning back to his newspaper without another word, turning the page and earning a huff of annoyance from Kurt.

'Dinner will be at eight.' His mother said from the other side of the kitchen where she was chopping vegetables. Blaine nodded and stood there for a moment longer, wondering if his parents had anything more to say to him, any more questions to ask or if they even cared if Blaine liked his new school or not. But they both carried on as if he wasn't even in the room.

Without another word Blaine left the kitchen and climbed the stairs, his anger and frustration rising with every step he took.

When he had been a child and told his parents about the 'invisible' people he was speaking to they ignored the implications, assuming, as most parents would, that their child had an over active imagination and would grow out of it in time.

By the time he was eight he had learned to keep quiet about the ghost he saw, knowing that something about it wasn't right and that it was making his parents angry every time he mentioned a new 'friend' that no one else could see.

It wasn't so bad then, he would meet these 'ghosts' and only speak to them in secret, in the dark of his room or behind the gym at his school, away from people who would look at him strangely for speaking to someone they couldn't see. It was mostly the ghosts of children that sought him out, although he didn't realise they were ghosts then, none of them seemed to realise they were dead and were just happy to play with Blaine.

He should have realised when he met Scott, a boy of nine with bright blue eyes and thick blonde hair, by the swings. Scott was funny and liked to show Blaine how far he could jump from the top of the slide. He should have seen the way his neck was twisted at an odd angle and questioned it.

It was only when his brother told him caught him trying to out-jump Scott that he learned. Cooper told him that he shouldn't jump from there, that a boy died of a broken neck after jumping and falling awkwardly.

After that Blaine saw these invisible people for who they really were; the girl who played in the garden next to his who wore strange clothes like from the really old movies. The old woman down the block who walked in front of cars that passed right through her and the boy in his class who stood in the corner all day, facing the wall.

They were all dead.

Strangely the realization didn't scare him. He thought maybe that deep down he had always suspected but he didn't think that ghosts should look like people. In cartoons they always looked like people with sheets over their heads, or Casper.

But after that he was careful not to let anyone find out he could see dead people. He was a smart enough child to know that it wasn't something that was normal.

It wasn't until he was thirteen that his 'gift' became an issue. All throughout his childhood he had played with the ghosts of dead children, spoken with lonely spirits or just observed the actions of people that no one else could see. He thought the whole thing was harmless and it made him special.

But when he was thirteen he learnt that not all of them were harmless or friendly. Some of them were angry and some of them were very scary.

He had been shopping with his father, the two of them looking for something for his mom's birthday, strolling through the shops, conversing and joking with an ease that made Blaine heart ache to remember.

They had been queuing to pay for a perfume that his mom had been hinting at for weeks when a man started screaming. Blaine started and stared at the man, recoiling into his father's side when he saw the man's neck.

A large gash ran across his throat and blood was streaming down his chest, splashing onto the floor and drenching his clothes. He was screaming obscenities and getting right up into people's faces, yelling at them and trying to hit out at them when they inevitably ignored him.

Blaine pressed into his father's side as the man drew closer to them. His dad had asked what was wrong and Blaine became aware that he had begun to whimper. The erratic behaviour of the man scared him and just the sight of him was enough to make his stomach clench in fear.

'What are you looking at?' The man screamed at him, standing almost on Blaine's toes and towering over him. Warm blood slashed down onto Blaine's face and he chocked as he felt the warm liquid seep into his mouth. The man raised him hand and Blaine could see a knife glinting in the florescent lights of the store.

He screamed and fell to the floor, curling up into a ball in an effort to protect himself from the knife's blade as it swept down towards him.

He could feel his father's hands on him, trying to calm him, his voice calling Blaine's name over the screaming, but nothing could quell the terror inside him. He had never felt so threatened in his life, so scared and defenceless.

It was only when he was in his Dad's car, having been carried out of the store, perfume left on a counter completely forgotten, that he managed to calm down enough to realise he was safe.

His father drove them home in silence, letting Blaine curl up into himself and try to wipe away the blood that only he could see. He was calmer now the man had gone but still deeply shaken. He hadn't realised that the ghosts he could see could ever be threatening or scary, but now he realised he probably should have guessed they wouldn't all be happy.

When he got home his father sat him on the couch and covered him with a blanket, asking him if he was ok. Blaine sighed and decided that now was probably the time to tell his father the truth. It was his father after all, the man who had promised to love Blaine no matter what.

And Blaine had genuinely believed him; he had believed that when he told his parents they would be shocked, after all it was a little unconventional to be seeing dead people, but that they would be understanding and supportive.

He hadn't expected for his father to be so mad, to start shouting at him and send a new wave of terror coursing through him. He hadn't thought for a second they wouldn't believe him, or accuse him of making things up. He hadn't predicted that they would send him to a therapist and act as if he was crazy.

Blaine was seething by the time he got to his room, slamming the door behind him and turning on the radio immediately so that his parents didn't hear him talking to 'no one' and send him away again.

'Well your parent's seem nice.' Kurt said as he walked through the door and into Blaine's room.

'Why can't you people leave me alone?' Blaine said, his voice ragged with the tears he was trying so hard to keep back. 'What have I done to deserve this?'

Kurt stopped in the middle of the room, looking startled at the sudden change in mood. He and Blaine had been chatting quite easily on the way to his house and all of a sudden he was shouting at Kurt.

'I'm sorry.' Kurt said, although he wasn't sure just what he was apologising for.

'You don't get it, no one gets it.' Blaine said exasperated. He sat down on the floor against his bed and buried his head in his hands. That morning he had been expecting everything to change; new school, new friends, no more acknowledging ghosts and maybe having his parents treat him like he was their son again.

None of that seemed to have worked out for him.

'I just want to be left alone by you lot, I want to have friends again, I want my parents to stop thinking I'm some sort of freak, I just want to be normal, and that's never going to happen if you don't leave me alone!' A chocked sob escaped his lips before he could stop it.

'I'm sorry.' Kurt said again, sitting next to him on the floor and putting his hands in his lap. He genuinely meant it this time. 'I never meant to cause you any distress.'

'I know, I know, you just want help.' Blaine snapped. 'But no one ever wants to help me. No one ever tells me how to fix things or make people believe me, no one ever believes me.'

'I can't imagine anyone would.' Kurt said honestly. He wasn't sure he would if he wasn't the ghost that was currently haunting the poor boy.

'Everyone just thinks I'm a freak, or making it up to get attention. I've been run out of two schools because people have found out, I've had my best friends turn on me, call me names and disown me. I never wanted any of this!' Blaine sobbed, burying his head in his arms.

Kurt sat there for a moment, his heart torn to see this boy, who he'd only known for less than an hour, pour his heart out to him.

'Hey.' Kurt said after Blaine's sobs died down. He reached over to try and tug Blaine's arm away from his face before remembering he could touch the boy. 'Blaine.' He said, leaning a little closer to get his attention.

'Yeah?' Blaine sniffed, wiping his eyes and wishing he hadn't broken down like that in front of Kurt. Although, who could the boy tell when no one else could see him?

'If we get this sorted and get me back in my body then there'll be at least one person who'll believe you.'

Blaine sniffed again and looked at Kurt.

'I'll believe you, because I know, because I'll have been one of the ghosts you've seen.' Kurt smiled. 'If you can help me with this then when I'm awake I can help you. I don't know if I can get anyone to believe you, or get your parents to stop ignoring you. But at the very least you'll have someone who genuinely believes you to speak to.'

Blaine stared at him. He hadn't considered that. With ever other ghost he had met there was never anything in it for him, only for them. And none of them ever had a chance of waking up and seeing him again.

A weight lifted from his heart that seemed to have been there for years. At last he could have someone in his life who would believe him, someone he could talk to about this who wouldn't look at him like he was crazy. Someone who could help.

'I'd like that.' Blaine said, smiling back at Kurt and feeling hope rise in his chest for the first time since that day in the store.

'Right!' Kurt grinned. 'Then let's get to work.'

**Reviews are very much welcome, I'd love to know what you think :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Media:** Fanfic

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Not Dead Yet

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.

As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, however the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.

But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it, Blaine just needs someone to believe in him

Chapter One

Chapter Two

It was Blaine's second day at his new school and he could honestly say that it was much better than his first. Now he knew where all the ghosts were there were no nasty surprises. He knew which areas of the school to avoid when he could and there was only one room he was required to go in that had a ghost.

Even better then that though was the fact that he had friends to sit with at lunch. At Dalton it had taken a while for him to talk to anyone and he had spent the first few weeks alone.

But that morning in Spanish class Tina had invited him to sit with her, Mike and Mercedes at lunch time. Blaine had smiled and accepted, feeling warmth spread through him that lasted throughout the morning, even if he did get slammed into the lockers twice by the jocks.

During math class his mind began to wander, toning out the teacher's droning voice and thinking how things could be for him now. He could have friends, a group of people to hang out with after school, be part of a club and get to perform for people. And if he can get Kurt out of hic coma then he'd have someone who believed him about his 'gift'. He'd finally have someone on his side.

Blaine shook his head and warned himself not to get carried away. He and Kurt had spent five hours searching the internet the night before. They had found some theories on the matter, some that were crackpot, obviously written by crazy people, and some that sounded believable.

But no solid proof or research seemed to exist. Blaine knew, deep down, that he really couldn't be the only one able to see ghosts in the whole world. So why could he never seem to find people with the same gift as him?

He had often spoke to people online who claimed to speak to the dead but most of them seemed to be attention seekers and the others were too busy claiming they were best friends with Elvis, so Blaine had given up on that.

From all their hours of research they had come to one conclusion. Blaine had sighed when they both ended up agreeing on it. It always seemed to come down to this, in every single film, TV drama or book, the ghost had to resolve their 'unfinished business' to pass on. In Kurt's case they were taking Kurt 'passing on' to mean that he would return to his body, seeing as he wasn't really dead.

'I just don't see how it works, logically.' Blaine had said, closing his computer down and turning to look at Kurt. The other boy just shrugged at him.

'Well, it's either that or have you surround my hospital bed with goats blood, lavender and fourteen and half candles at the next full moon and start chanting.' He replied, recalling a genuine suggestion for returning a lost spirit to its body they had read.

'Alright then, we'll call that plan B.' Blaine laughed.

So they had decided the best plan of action was to bring Kurt's attacker to justice, a feat made all the more difficult by the fact that Kurt couldn't remember anything about the attack. One website had mentioned that, explaining that it was sometimes too traumatic for a ghost to remember their own death, or near death in Kurt's case, but sometimes they could remember by returning to the scene of the crime.

And then there was the task of getting the attacker arrested. They had decided that if they discovered anything Blaine would place an anonymous call to the police with the information and hope that they follow it up. It was a weak plan but it was all they had at that point.

Blaine thought they would be better off just finding out what had happened, so that was his first task. He figured Tina would be the best person to ask; she obviously knew Kurt well and seemed to like Blaine well enough to possibly share the story with.

He had already learned from the news websites the details of Kurt's attack, so he knew that the whole of New Directions had been there, but the details in the article were vague, he needed more.

He waited for a break in the conversation he had only been half listening to before taking a steadying breath.

'I'm sorry to hear about your friend Kurt.' He said, not quite meeting the eyes of anyone at the table as they turned to look at him. 'What happened?' He was met with silence and felt his stomach clench with dread, wondering if he had crossed a line and cost himself the chance of having any friends at all.

Mike was the first one to break the silence, which surprised Blaine as he seemed the quieter of the ones seated at the table.

'He was attacked a few weeks ago while we were at our sectionals competition.' Mike said. 'He's been in a coma since then, the doctors don't know if he'll ever wake up.'

Tina started playing with her soda can, looking as if she were about to cry.

'Wow, I'm so sorry.' Blaine said, looking at the grief on their faces he could tell they had cared about Kurt a lot. 'Did they catch who did it? There are always quite a few people at those things, someone must have seen something.'

Mercedes shook her head. 'No, it was after the competition. We were staying in a motel overnight rather than getting back really late. We were spread over four rooms and all moving in and out of the rooms, hanging out in different groups. Kurt was in the room with Artie, Tina, Mike and me, he said he had left his iPod on the bus and went out to get it. When he didn't come back right away we just assumed he was hanging out with a different group in another room.

It was about forty five minutes later we heard Santana and Rachel fighting outside, we couldn't really hear what they were shouting about but Rachel must have said something to upset her, which was surprising as it's usually the other way around. Santana stormed off towards the parking lot, I think Brittany went to go after her but Mr Schu said it wasn't safe out there she should stay by the motel while he went to get her.

He was just telling Miss Pillsbury to keep an eye on us when we heard Santana scream. It was horrible, one of those screams where you can really tell something's wrong. I've never heard anything like it in my life.' Mercedes voice chocked a little and she stopped talking. Mike took over from her.

'Mr Schu went running over to where the screams were coming from. Finn, Puck, Sam and I went as well. She was by the edge of a small wooded area separating the motel from the road, just sitting on the ground and screaming. There was something on the floor by her feet but none of us realised what it was until we got right up to her, it was so dark. But as we got closer we recognized Kurt's shirt.

He was lying on the ground not moving. Santana had been running towards the trees and tripped over him, falling almost on top of him. There were dark marks around his neck, but otherwise he looked like he could be sleeping.

Puck went over to Santana and picked her up; taking her back to the motel and shouting back that he would phone the police. Mr Schu bent down and checked for a pulse, but you could tell Kurt wasn't breathing, we all thought he was dead. Then he shouted after Puck to call an ambulance as well. He told us to go back to the motel, Sam and I had to drag Finn away, he wouldn't leave.'

'Were Finn and Kurt close then?' Blaine asked, Kurt had only given him a brief description of the glee club members so he knew who was who, he didn't know that much about Kurt's relationship with anyone.

'Step-brothers.' Tina said. 'Their parents only got married two weeks before this happened. I think Finn felt that he should have been looking after Kurt, he still feels guilty about it. We tried talking to him, I mean Kurt's seventeen, it's not like Finn could follow him around every second of the day. I don't think Finn sees it like that though.'

Blaine nodded. He had met a few families of the ghosts he had met, trying to get answers or pass on messages that weren't believed; many of them had survivor's guilt. He understood that some people felt that should have known their loved one was in danger, even when it was impossible for them to have known.

'So the ambulance came and took him to hospital, the police came and searched the whole area, but no one was found. They have no idea who did it.' Mike finished.

'Well that's not helpful.' Kurt said, suddenly appearing at Blaine's side and making him jump slightly. He looked at the three sitting at the table but no one seemed to notice.

'We all still visit him a few times a week.' Tina said. 'Not all at once, I think the hospital got a bit fed up with eleven people turning up at once and squeezing into one room.'

'They do visit.' Kurt smiled. 'Although I wish Rachel would stop singing to me. It's not that I don't like it, it's just her choice of songs isn't exactly appropriate.'

Blaine tried not to smile, covering it up by taking a drink from his soda can.

'So they have no leads at all?' He asked.

Mercedes shook her head.

'No, there was no DNA or any of that CSI stuff there. CCTV caught Kurt walking across the parking lot to the bus but the bus was out its sight so we don't know what happened after that.'

'The police reckon whoever did this has done it before.' Mike said. 'There are cases in Virginia, Kentucky and around Ohio were boys around Kurt's age have been strangled, but no one ever gets caught.'

'Kurt's lucky to still be alive then.' Blaine said softly. None of the news reports had mentioned that fact.

Mike nodded. 'The doctors said Santana must have interrupted him or something and he couldn't have finished. They said that his brain had been starved of oxygen and that's why he's in a coma, but it wasn't enough to kill him straight away. If we hadn't have found him when we did then he would have had no chance.'

They sat in silence for a few moments, no one knowing what else to say. Tears were silently trailing down Tina's cheeks and Mike took hold of her hand, squeezing it tightly.

'This must be so hard for you all, you seem so close.' Blaine said, breaking the silence at last.

'We are.' Mercedes smiled. 'We've been through a lot together; we're like one big family.'

'So did that help at all?' Blaine asked. He was driving home from school; Kurt sat in the passenger seat. He had laughed when Kurt had tried to pull the seatbelt over him, his fingers sinking through the buckle.

'I think so.' Kurt said, wrinkling his nose. 'I remember the motel now. I remember walking over to the bus and finding my iPod. And my scarf actually, I'd forgotten I'd left that in there. I think I remember someone grabbing me. But not really.' He sighed.

'Well, it's a start at least.' Blaine said, trying to sound optimistic. But really he could feel his heart sinking. If the police had no leads then Kurt was the only one who could have any idea about what happened.

'I suppose.' Kurt replied distractedly. Blaine could see he was thinking hard. 'Do you think any of the others might remember who it was?'

'What do you mean?' Blaine asked, not following Kurt's train of thought.

'If whoever attacked me has killed before do you think any of his victims are still here? Still ghosts I mean.'

Blaine stopped at a set of traffic lights and thought hard. It was possible. From what he had read from some of the more genuine articles some the most common ghosts were of the people who had been murdered.

'It might be worth a try.' He agreed. It was a long shot though, if any of the victims were still ghosts what were the odds of Blaine being able to find them? Or of them remembering anymore then Kurt did. But they had little else to go on, so what choice did they have?

Something flitted across Blaine's mind for a second, it had stood out to him when Kurt had said it a moment ago but it was only now that he knew why.

'You said you found your scarf?' He said, pulling away from the lights.

'Yeah.' Kurt replied distractedly, watching people walking down the street.

Blaine paused, his mind running over the details of the news report he had read.

'They didn't find a scarf on you though.' He said. Kurt turned to look at him, giving Blaine his full attention.

'Wait, what?'

'They said they found your iPod in the parking lot, but you didn't have anything else on you. It even said that they were asking if you were wearing a scarf because they thought that it might have been used to... you know, strangle you. Something to do with fabric strands.' Blaine trailed off.

'They had better not have used it, it's Gucci.' Kurt seethed.

'Is that what you're thinking about?'

'Well it'll be all stretched out.'

'They didn't find it Kurt!' Blaine exclaimed, watching Kurt's eyes widen as he got the point Blaine was making.'

'The person who attacked me must have taken it.' Kurt whispered. Blaine grinned, feeling a weight lift from his chest. The task of brining Kurt's attacker still seemed like an impossible task, but they had a lead, however small it was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Media:** Fanfic

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Haunted Life: Chapter 4

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.

As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, however the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.

But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it, Blaine just needs someone to believe in him

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

'Are you sure you picked up a scarf from the bus?' Blaine asked for the third time as he chopped tomatoes for dinner.

'I think I am.' Kurt sighed, hopping up onto the kitchen counter and watching Blaine work.

'I need you to be sure if this is all we have to go on Kurt.'

'I know, I know, it's just difficult!' Kurt was frustrated with himself. Almost getting murdered was a big thing; you'd expect someone to remember something like that. So why didn't he remember his own incident? The rest of the night was as clear as a photo to him, but as soon as he leaves the motel room his memory begins to jump, things he thought he was sure about begin to change and suddenly he's not too certain anymore.

Blaine continued to make dinner in silence. He would be eating alone tonight, again, as his parents went out. He didn't mind, the silence was becoming more preferable then their uneasy company. And now Kurt was always around he didn't feel so lonely.

He had survived his first week at his new school. The jocks pushed him around and given him what was called a slushy facial. Blaine had been horrified at first but as Mercedes and Tina had dragged him into the restroom and cleaned him up; laughing about their own slushy experiences it hadn't seemed so bad.

No one had found out his secret and for once he felt like a normal kid at school. Even if he did spend all his time talking to Kurt as soon as they got to Blaine's house.

Blaine found they were talking about much more than just Kurt's attack. Kurt had begun to tell Blaine everything he might need to know about McKinley. The jocks wait by the dumpsters in the morning to throw people in so don't walk by there. Keep a spare change of clothes in your locker for future slushy attacks and whatever you do, do not get in Coach Sylvester's way when she is angry. Being in Glee you were an extra target to her.

He would still get bullied, he was sure of it, but at least now it would be about normal things, like being shorter than others or being in glee club.

'Wait!' Kurt snapped him out of his thoughts all of a sudden. 'On the bus I found my iPod and scarf, but I found five dollars as well.' He grinned triumphantly. 'I remember it because Finn had asked me for some money earlier and I didn't have any, so when I saw it on my seat on the bus I picked it up and put it in my pocket.'

'Ok, I don't see how that helps though.' Blaine admitted, dropping the tomatoes into a saucepan and adding some olive oil.

'You should add some basil.' Kurt commented, leaning over the saucepan and inhaling deeply before sighing. 'Oh I miss smelling and tasting things, you don't realise how much you do it till it's gone.'

'Kurt, focus.' Blaine said, pulling some basil and adding it to the pan.

'Ok, right. So if I remember right and I found my iPod, scarf and five dollars then the five dollars should still be in my pocket right?'

Blaine understood. The police had returned Kurt's clothes after searching them for evidence.

'But won't your mom have washed them by now? How am I supposed to get into your house and look for them anyway?'

'Step-mom.' Kurt commented absent minded. 'And they're not at home. I was at the hospital when the police gave them to my dad. He got really upset and refused to take them home. The nurses put them away in my room and they're still there. You'll be able to get into the hospital room.'

Blaine bit back a groan. Sneaking into places, searching through things, it was all a recipe to get into trouble and exactly why he didn't help ghosts anymore.

Kurt seemed to sense his hesitance. 'It'll be ok, you could go on Sunday, New Directions visits on Saturday and my Dad is only there in the afternoon. I'll keep an eye out for nurses and you'll be fine.'

'Ok, but if get into trouble over this Kurt I'm calling it off, I can't have people finding out about it.' He slammed the chopping board into the sink.

'I understand.' Kurt said quietly. He felt guilty about making Blaine do things he wasn't comfortable with, but what choice did he have?

'Everything ok Blaine?' A voice at the door said, making them both jump. Blaine turned to see Cooper standing in the doorway.

'Hey, no everything's fine.' Blaine smiled, a little too brightly not to raise suspicion. He wondered how long his brother had been standing there. 'I'm making pasta if you want some.'

'That'll be great.' Cooper smiled. 'I'm going to take my bag upstairs and get changed. Shall I pick out a movie for us to watch?' Blaine nodded and watched him leave.

'Who's that?' Kurt asked.

'My brother Cooper. He comes over when he knows our parents are leaving me alone a lot. He seems to think my problem is just me attention seeking.' It wasn't ideal but at least it made Cooper spend more time with Blaine in an effort to help him rather than writing him off to therapists like their parents did. Blaine was actually quite touched, even if it did make him feel sad that he still wasn't believed.

'Ok, I'll leave you two alone. Shall I see you Sunday morning and we can work out our game plan?'

'Oh... ok.' Blaine said, it was Friday so there would still be a whole day he'd spend alone until Kurt came back. He had considered calling Tina or someone else from Glee, but as Kurt had said, they all went to visit Kurt on Saturdays, he didn't want to intrude.

'Or I can drop by tomorrow.' Kurt said, sensing Blaine's sombre mood. Blaine tried to hide his excitement; it wasn't healthy to be that happy about spending the day with a ghost instead of real friends.

But he figured if he could get Kurt back into his body he could have a real friend at last.

'Visiting hours are over in five minutes.' Kurt whispered to him, ducking around the corner to join him out of sight of Kurt's room.

'You don't have to whisper.' Blaine said, keeping his eyes trained on the floor. 'No one can hear you.'

'Right, I forgot, I think I got caught up in the moment.' Kurt grinned. Blaine couldn't help but smile back.

Blaine hated hospitals, there were always so many ghosts wandering around and Blaine was always hard pressed to stay off their radar. He had been chased out of the building once whilst visiting his Grandmother by a ghost telling him to fetch the nurse and that no one was listening to her. She hadn't seemed to realise she was dead.

So far no one had noticed that he could see them, he hadn't let his gaze linger on anyone and had walked straight through a young woman with half her chest cracked open.

'So where are your clothes?' Blaine asked, he wanted to get in and out of that room as quickly as possible to avoid getting caught.

'There's a small cupboard on the table in the corner, all my things are in there.' Kurt said, Blaine snuck a peek around the corner of the doorframe to see where Kurt was pointing, immediately spotting the cabinet Kurt was talking about. 'There's a key to it but it's just on the shelf there, there's nothing valuable in there. Dad will be gone in a minute and you'll be out of here in no time.' Kurt grinned.

Blaine smiled back, not feeling quite as anxious about the mission as he would have done before. Never had a ghost offered to be lookout for him while he ran around for them, nor were they ever that grateful when he did manage to help them.

Blaine took another quick look in the room. Kurt's dad sat with his back to the door, his head bowed and shoulders slumped as he held his son's hand, quietly talking to Kurt as if he could hear him. Blaine was quite moved by the sight.

'And is that your step-mother?' Blaine asked, indicating the woman sitting on the other side of the bed, facing the door but looking down at Kurt.

Kurt frowned and looked into the room again.

'It's only my dad sitting in there, Carole works on a Sunday.'

Blaine faltered for a moment. Of course, this hospital was filled with ghosts and Blaine figured she must just be one more occupant. But the way she was looking at Kurt, so tenderly, she definitely wasn't a stranger to him.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a chair scraping back and Mr Hummel saying goodbye to Kurt. Blaine scurried a few feet away from the door and pretended to read a notice board on the wall as Kurt's dad walked right by him. He waited for the older man to round the corner before bolting in to Kurt's room and closing the door.

The woman was still there, gazing down at the boy on the bed and stroking a hand softly along his arm. Blaine followed her gaze down to Kurt, suppressing a gasp at how different he looked.

It was almost pure irony that ghost Kurt looked far more alive than the person on the bed. Kurt's body, for that was the only way Blaine could think of it as ghost Kurt bounded into the room after him, was pale and so very still on the bed, only the beeping of the monitors and the gentle fall and rising of his chest giving indication that he was still alive.

Kurt watched Blaine for a moment before sighing.

'I know, I look awful, I'm weeks behind on my skin care regime, and I really wish someone could do something to my hair, it's so greasy.'

Blaine nodded dumbly, not really listening to what Kurt was saying.

The woman on the bed looked up and smiled at him warmly.

'Hello, I was wondering when you'd come by.' She said her voice gentle and kind. Blaine could immediately feel himself relax, this wouldn't be a ghost that would attack him or scream and shout. He looked at her for a few moments. Her eyes and her nose, her slender fingers and the way she held her head, Blaine knew for certain he was looking at Kurt's mother.

'Blaine?' Kurt said, he had crossed the room to the cabinet and was now standing right next to his mother but he hadn't even looked at her.

'He can't see me.' She said sadly. 'He's not dead, thankfully, he can't see ghosts, I think he may be on a different plane. I'm not really sure how this whole thing works.' She laughed, the noise sounding melodic to Blaine's ears.

'Um.' Blaine started, not sure what to say. Kurt knew his secret, he knew he could see ghosts but how would he react to knowing his mother was here with him?

'You can tell him if you want.' Kurt's mother said. 'Or just say you can see the previous occupant of the room is still here. Whatever makes you the most comfortable sweetheart.' She looked longingly over to her son, the spirit standing next to her looking more alive than the figure on the bed.

'Your mother's here.' Blaine whispered, his eyes fixed on Kurt's face taking in the myriad of expressions that surfaced at his words.

'What?' Kurt said at last.

'She's by your bedside, she's watching over you.' Blaine said, feeling stupidly cliché as he always did in this kind of circumstance.

'She's here? But I thought... I mean I don't believe in heaven or anything but I thought she'd... move on or something.' Kurt whispered, wrapping his arms around himself and glancing at the spot Blaine had been staring at since he entered the room.

'Oh darling I moved on as soon as I died, I knew your dad would take good care of you. But I came back, in case you need me now.'

Blaine repeated her words to Kurt; watch his expression shift from something unrecognizable to plain confusion.

'How does that work?'

'No one knows really.' Blaine said as Kurt's mother smiled and shrugged. 'Everyone I've spoken to doesn't really understand it either. I mean there are plenty of theories but everyone experience is different so...'

'Where does she go? When she's not here?' Kurt asked. 'I'm sorry, I know you don't like this, you don't have to do it if you don't want to.'

But Blaine wanted to, the way Kurt held himself, as if he were desperate to be wrapped in his mother's arms and absolutely terrified at the same time tugged at something in Blaine.

'No it's ok. She says she's somewhere peaceful, but it's hard to describe.' Blaine replied, translating her words.

There was a pause between the two boys as Kurt's mom spoke.

'She says she's proud of you Kurt.' Blaine said, feeling a lump in his throat at the overwhelming look of happiness on Kurt's face at his words. 'She's so very proud of the man you're becoming and how strong you are.'

'Tell her I miss her.' Kurt whispered.

'She knows Kurt.' Blaine could feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes at the exchange between mother and son.

'Ok, I need to be alone for a moment.' Kurt said, his voice catching as he suddenly disappeared. Blaine was surprised momentarily, Kurt usually walked out of the room to leave, Blaine had never seen him vanish before.

'I know what you two are planning to do.' Kurt's mom said, breaking the silence. Her voice had gained a tone of motherly sternness that made Blaine pay attention immediately. 'It's dangerous.'

'I know.'

'If this all goes wrong Kurt will be fine, you can't really hurt a ghost, but you can get hurt. And don't forget you're hunting someone who has killed a lot of people without leaving a trace.'

'I know, we're not really going after the guy though, just trying to find a victim who remembers enough about him to tip off the police.' Blaine said, avoiding her gaze and staring at the floor. He knew what he was doing was foolish and dangerous, and he really wouldn't do it for anyone else. But the prospect of having someone who believed in his secret was just far too great to resist.

'If I could help out I would, I want to see my son awake more than anything. I just think you two are being too risky with this. I don't want you getting hurt.'

'I'll be careful.' Blaine promised.

And with that she was gone.

Blaine took a deep breath, shaking his head to clear the emotions dancing around his brain and heading over to the cabinet, taking the key off of the shelf and opening the door. He pulled out the clear plastic bag of Kurt's clothes and reached for the pants, searching through his pockets until he found the folded green note.

'So I guess there's a stolen scarf in someone's possession.' Kurt said from behind him.

Blaine smiled triumphantly.


	5. Chapter 5

'Blaine are you sure you're ok?' Kurt asked, watching tentatively from the bed as Blaine stomped around the room.

'I'm fine.' Blaine growled as he turned on his radio and let his messenger bag fall to the floor with a heavy thump. 'I'm freaking perfect!' He turned away from Kurt and took a deep breath, trying to calm the myriad of emotions coursing through him.

'Therapy didn't go so well then?' Kurt said quietly. He hadn't come straight home with Blaine that afternoon, knowing that the other boy had to see his therapist. Instead he had waited in Blaine's room, taking his time to take a look around the other boy's possessions.

He didn't see it as snooping; after all he couldn't move anything so everything he was looking at was out on display for anyone to see.

He liked the decor, the subtle colours complimented each other and the decorations were simple. It was a very classic room and Kurt didn't mind spending time in there. Unlike, say, Rachel's room where he felt compelled to take shades to ward off the glare of twenty different shades of pink.

He found himself smiling when he found Blaine's copy of Patti LuPone's new book, the same one he had been reading before the attack. He also had the newest copy of Vogue hidden away in his bookshelf, not in an embarrassed to have it way, more of an organized way.

Kurt knew that if he and Blaine had met under different circumstances they would have gotten on well. Blaine was obviously into music and took care in the way he looked. He was nice and seemed genuine.

Blaine seemed to like the people he met in life, even after years of bullying and people calling him a freak he still saw the best in people. Kurt wondered if he would have believed Blaine's secret if they'd met in a normal way.

Before he could properly process that thought Blaine had burst through the door with a face like thunder.

'No therapy was fine.' Blaine huffed, throwing himself down on the bed and covering his face with his hands.

'Then what's wrong?' Kurt asked softly, sitting next to Blaine on the bed and moving to place his hand on Blaine's knee in a comforting gesture. He stopped himself at the last second, not wanting to watch his hand sink through Blaine's leg. He'd had months of passing through solid objects now but it still freaked him out every time, it just wasn't natural.

'My dad.' Blaine replied. Kurt stayed silent, waiting for Blaine to elaborate, knowing that he just needed more time to find the words. 'My parents are visiting family over the weekend and I was talking with my dad on the ride home from the therapists about how excited I was to see all my cousins again, it's been a while you know? But my dad told me I wasn't going, that I have to stay here all weekend on my own because he doesn't want his family finding out that I'm a freak.' A tear spilled out from Blaine eye and trickled down his cheek before he could reach up to brush it away.

'Wow that sucks. I'm so sorry Blaine.' Kurt said sadly. Blaine smiled weakly in return and covered his face with his arms once more. 'One of my Mom's brothers refuses to let me visit him and see my cousins. He's scared I'll make them gay or something. He's an idiot.' Kurt saw Blaine's mouth twitch a little. 'I still speak to them on Facebook anyway, and they don't care if I'm gay or not.'

'My cousins are still a little young for Facebook right now. They're only six and seven' Blaine said, sitting up and rubbing his face.

'Well then they've probably got their own invisible friends they speak to, you'd fit right in.' Kurt smiled. Blaine laughed softly. 'Maybe you could go and see them without your dad finding out?'

'Yeah you're right.' He replied lying down on his bed on his side. Without thinking Kurt mimicked his actions, lying so they were facing each other, just a foot away from one another on the bed. It's close and intimate but they've had so many of these meaningful conversations over the last couple of weeks it feels comfortable.

But Blaine wishes more than anything that he could reach out and touch Kurt, just to put his hand on Kurt's shoulder or rest against him as they talked. Blaine missed the physical contact that came with easy friendship; he hadn't had a friendship like that for a while.

The two boys were silent for a while, letting the music from the radio fill the silence, just content to lie there and enjoy the others company.

Blaine was almost drifting off into a light doze when he heard Kurt begin to hum along to the tune one the radio. He smiled to himself, finally feeling the stress and frustration from the day lessen. Kurt was good company.

'I'm sorry I took so long this afternoon.' He said after a while, turning on to his back and shuffling to sit up against the headboard. 'I didn't mean to keep you waiting.'

Kurt shrugged, turning to lie on his back as well and stretching out on the bed. Blaine watched as his limbs moved against the blankets, but the blankets themselves didn't shift. It was a strange sight and made Blaine's stomach jolt as it served as a reminder that Kurt wasn't real.

'That's ok.' He said. 'I don't really have a concept of time anymore.'

'Really?' Blaine asked, intrigued. He may have spoken to many ghosts over the years but it was usually quite brief, he'd never had the chance to learn what it was like for them.

'Yeah, it doesn't feel like time passes any more. It's strange, I can't really explain it, but it's like things are just happening, I can't tell if it's taking a long time or it's happening really quickly.'

'That sounds weird.' Blaine said. Kurt nodded.

'I'm kind of glad about that though, otherwise night times would be really boring.'

'Right, because you don't sleep any more do you?' Blaine realised. Kurt shook his head. 'What do you do all night then? If you don't mind me asking.'

'For the first few nights I was scared to leave the hospital, I just sat by my bed next to my dad and watched him wait there. But that got really painful, to see him cry because of me broke my heart. But I couldn't bear to leave him.'

Blaine felt Kurt's words tug at his heart. Kurt obviously loved his father very much and it must be as painful for Kurt not to be able to speak to his dad as it was for his dad to watch his son lie in a coma.

'But after a few nights I started wandering around the hospital, just watching what was going on. It took me five minutes in the emergency room for me to appreciate the fact that I can't feel sick, there are some strange accidents happening in Lima! Then I started to leave the hospital, just walking around the town. It's so amusing to watch people who think they aren't being watched.' He laughed. 'I've seen all the movies that are out at the moment and all the plays down at the theatre and all for free too.'

'Well I suppose there has to be an upside to being a ghost somewhere.' Blaine smiled.

'Yeah I guess. But I was getting so lonely, not having anyone to talk to.' He said sadly. 'Which is another reason I'm so glad you came along.'

Without thinking Blaine reached over to grasp Kurt's hand, wanting nothing more than to touch the boy, to confirm the connection of the moment, but of course his hand slipped right through to the blankets.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, breaking it free of the gel. Kurt gazed up at him sadly.

The moment was interrupted by Blaine's mother calling up from the kitchen that dinner was ready. Blaine climbed off the bed and walked towards the door, turning back to look at Kurt before he opened it.

'So after dinner we're going to do some research on the victims of your attacker right? We're going to catch the guy and get you back in your body.' He assured Kurt.

The smile the teenager on the bed gave him, the trust and conviction on his face, was enough for Blaine to make it through the evening meal with his parents.

_**Sorry for not updating last week, and the slightly shorter chapter this week, I had two job interviews to prepare for lately! But I have next week off work and so will hopefully get this story finished!**_

_**Also I wanted a quiet moment between the boys before the madness that is the next few chapters' hits!**_

_**As always, comments are love 3**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Media:** Fanfic

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Haunted Life: Chapter 5

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.

As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, however the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.

But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it, Blaine just needs someone to believe in him

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three |Chapter Four | Chapter Five

Kurt frowned at the speakers currently blasting out Iron Maiden from the car stereo; this was a seriously far cry from the playlists of Katy Perry and Pink that usually played while Blaine was driving.

The weekend had come around quickly and as soon as Blaine's parents had left they had gathered all their research, packed some clothes and food for Blaine and climbed into his car.

They had decided to head to Indiana, to a small town with a lake where a boy named Thomas Rigby had been murdered a year before. During their research they had narrowed their search down to seven murder victims that they thought might have been killed by the same person who attacked Kurt. They were all young boys who had been on their own and strangled with something. The murderer hadn't left a trace and there were no suspects for any of the attacks.

The lake where Thomas had been killed was only an hours' drive away from another murder site, so if they didn't have any luck there at least they could travel to another location during the weekend.

They had the weekend planned and even booked a motel for Blaine to stay in overnight. Blaine had almost asked for two beds before Kurt reminded him that he didn't need one.

So far it was just a normal road trip between two boys, even if one of them was only a ghost. They talked and played car games and settled for comfortable silences while the music played. But the choice of music was beginning to make Kurt wonder.

'What is up with this playlist?' He asked eventually as Guns 'n' Roses took over with Welcome to the Jungle. He couldn't physically change over the music so he felt he needed an explanation. Blaine stopped singing along and behind his sunglasses he adopted a sheepish expression.

'You're acting like we're the Winchester brothers or something.' Kurt joked. Blaine barked out a laugh.

'Yeah but without the cool car.' He shrugged. Kurt grinned and began to laugh.

'Oh Blaine, I think you've been watching too much Supernatural.' He said, his shoulder still shaking.

'What's wrong with that? It's a good show!' Blain protested.

'Oh so you can't watch Ghost Whisperer but Supernatural is ok?' Kurt grinned. At the start of this whole affair Kurt had made a throwaway comment about how everything was turning out to be like an episode of Ghost Whisperer, but Blaine had immediately cut him off, snarling that the show was nothing like real life and how no one would ever believe someone that easily, no matter what Jennifer Love Hewitt told them.

Kurt recognized that he had hit a nerve. From what he remembered from the few episodes he had seen there was never much conflict over believing that ghosts were real or not. But then had hadn't seen many of the episodes, maybe there were a few where she wasn't believed at all, but Blaine probably hadn't seen them either.

'Supernatural is different. Sam and Dean are in it together, they don't need anyone else to believe them because they believe in each other.' Blaine said simply, turning the music down and staring out at the long road ahead of them.

Kurt sighed; it always came back to this, Blaine having someone to believe in him, someone who he could trust. It hurt him every time he was reminded just how alone Blaine felt most of the time and how happy he was to have Kurt with him. It made him all the more determined to return to his body so he could be this boy's friend.

And after everything that had happened in the last few weeks he felt closer to Blaine then had ever felt with anyone else in his life, besides maybe his Dad. But this relationship was different, it felt more intimate, knowing so many private things about each other, and Kurt could feel something else building between them.

He liked to think that it could be something akin to a romance, they shared private things about themselves and even though they couldn't touch there was always a longing for some physical contact between them.

But he didn't even know if Blaine was gay, he didn't want to assume just from the few things that had hinted at his sexuality, he'd been wrong before and didn't want to possibly risk their friendship.

Maybe this was just a 'bromance' as the other guys would call it. Kurt had never been too close with any other guy before, he was sure he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

'They also shoot the ghosts with some rock salt if that start to get too rowdy.' Blaine said with a grin, interrupting Kurt's thoughts.

'Have you never tried that?' Kurt asked with a smirk. Blaine chuckled and shook his head.

'If I could get my hands on some rock salt and a shot gun there are a few ghosts I'd like to try it on! Or maybe just salt and burn their bones to get rid of them entirely. But I've never been able to get over the whole grave desecration thing.' He shuddered.

'No, but then if you were a hunter you'd have more than just ghosts to deal with.' Kurt pointed out.

'But they deal with it all together.' Blaine replied wistfully.

'Ok then, when I'm back in my body we'll find a cool car and go ghost hunting properly then, yeah?' Kurt smiled, trying to bring the lighter mood back into the car; they were going to have a heavy couple of days to deal with if they managed to find any of the murder victims.

'Yeah sure, or we could just watch the box sets back to back and not have to go anywhere.' Blaine shrugged, then with a sudden grin he added. 'Plus we can make a list of all the times either Sam or Dean take their shirts off, I think there definitely needs to be a record of that somewhere!'

Well that answers that question then, Kurt thought, his stomach flipping at the revelation. He tried to respond but the words caught in his throat for a moment.

'Well- uh, yeah, I think someone, somewhere must have done that already.' He said.

'Probably, but I think it's be fun to do our own research.' Blaine winked.

'Agreed. Now can we put some different music on please?'

Three and half hours later they were parking in a shady corner of the cemetery where Thomas was buried. Blaine had said that not many ghosts were ever around their own graves, after all who would want to haunt a deserted place with a constant reminder that they were dead? But it was the only possible haunting location with an early closing time, so they decided to start there.

They walked around for just over half an hour, Blaine being grateful for the chance to stretch his legs, looking at the headstones for Thomas.

'Over here!' Kurt called out after a while, standing about twenty feet away from where Blaine was currently searching. He hurried over to Kurt's side and looked down at the pristine headstone. Even though it was less than a year old it was obviously tended to very regularly. Thomas had been very much loved.

'The cemetery closes in half an hour, do you want to wait here until then? He might show up.' Blaine asked, still staring down at the headstone. When Kurt didn't answer he turned to look at the other boy.

Kurt was standing before Thomas's grave, his shoulders tense and whole frame frozen. The look on his face was unreadable, but Blaine could tell something was very wrong.

'What's the matter?' He said softly.

'I shouldn't be here.' Kurt said so quietly Blaine could hardly hear him.

'I know, but it's the only chance we really have of finding out who did this.' Blaine replied. Kurt shook his head.

'No, I mean I shouldn't be here, I should be dead.' His voice cracked and if he could Blaine was sure he would be crying. 'If Santana hadn't interrupted him, if he had finished the job I'd be standing before my own grave, I'd have had to watch my dad bury me and there wouldn't be a thing you could do to help me.'

Suddenly he collapsed to the ground, his head in his arms and shoulder shaking with dry sobs. Blaine knelt down next to him, barely holding back the urge to wrap his arms around Kurt and comfort him.

'I've been thinking so much about how frustrating it is to be in a coma and not being able to talk to anyone I didn't even think that I shouldn't be here at all, that I'm lucky I still have a chance and that I found you. I should be dead.' Even though there were no tears to cry his face was still screwed up and his body racked with sobs.

'Oh Kurt.' Blaine whispered, feeling so helpless that he could do nothing to comfort him. He had never felt so bad for a ghost before. Many of them were upset to learn that they were dead and it was upsetting to watch but Kurt's realization at how close he had become felt so personal it was as though someone had punched him in the stomach.

'Kurt, it's ok, you could have died, yes, but you didn't, you're still hanging in there and there is something we can do. We can find out who did this and get you back into your body.' Blaine said making himself heard over Kurt's weeping.

'We don't even know if that'll work.' Kurt chocked out. Blaine shook his head, determined not to think about the possibility that this whole thing might not even work out. That he might never get Kurt back into his body and have someone to believe him. It was too painful to even contemplate.

'We can try.' Blaine said determinedly. 'We have to try.'

By the time the cemetery was closing Kurt had managed to calm down and follow Blaine back to the car. The drive to the lake was made in silence, with not even the radio playing.

The sombre mood was lifted a little by the time they reached the lake. The sun was just setting and the sky burned with a beautiful mixture of reds and oranges.

It was mostly deserted by the lake, despite the warm evening and Blaine wondered if the murder had left the area with a taint, making it so no one wanted to come here anymore. Blaine walked around for a moment until he found the tree from the pictures in all the news reports, the one where Thomas had been found by a lady jogging in the early morning following the murder.

Kurt had stayed in the car while he searched and Blaine thought it best to leave him alone for a while. Even though he had been in a coma for a while he had obviously only just realised how close he had been to losing everything for good.

Some people may think it was an obvious thought, but Blaine knew that death is such a monumentality huge thing some people could slip in to deep denial very easily.

He settled beneath the three and got out the book he was meant to be reading for English, but he hardly took in any of the words on the pages. There was far too much to think about, between the search for Thomas's ghost, if he was in fact even still bound to this existence, to Kurt's sudden revelation and doubt about the whole mission.

From the very beginning Kurt had been so confident that they would work this out and get him out of his coma, sure he had doubted some of the techniques but he had never once thought that they wouldn't succeed. His sudden loss in confidence shook Blaine. Had he been foolish to think that this would end up ok? Had anything ever worked out before?

He glanced around the lake as the light began to fade, taking the beauty of it all. Had this been what Thomas had seen as he died? The still water reflecting the first stars peeking out of the darkening sky, the trees swaying gently in the breeze and the few remaining birds swooping through the sky before they too settled in for the night.

There was a couple sitting on the opposite side of the lake to him, a young girl held in her boyfriend's arms as he wrapped a blanket around them, keeping the slight chill that had spread over the lake away.

Blaine felt his heart ache, as much as he longed to be normal, or for someone to believe him he wanted more than anything to have someone to hold like that. Or just to be held. To have someone to love and be loved back.

He had spent the last few years afraid of becoming too close to anyone, knowing they would leave him if they ever found out his secret and trying to protect himself from the inevitable pain that would bring.

He hadn't set up any protective walls against Kurt though and the boy had walked straight into his heart and set up camp there. Blaine had been too afraid to admit it at first but he was falling in love with Kurt.

It wasn't hard to see why. Kurt was beautiful, stunning really, and there was something to his smile that made Blaine want to always be the one who caused it. The easiness of their friendship was a main factor as well, never before had Blaine felt so compelled to share everything with someone. He had trusted Kurt not to use the information against him, something he had never felt before in his life.

'I'm sorry about earlier.' Kurt whispered, making Blaine jump. The problem with ghosts is that they didn't make any noise; it was far too easy for them to creep up.

'That's ok Kurt, I understand, it must be difficult to be in your position.' He said with a gentle smile. Kurt smiled back and settled down into the tree roots next to Blaine. Their shoulders could almost be touching.

'See anyone yet?' Kurt asked. He had scanned the area and not seen anyone but the couple cuddling across the lake, but then he hadn't been able to see his mother in the hospital, so maybe he would see Thomas either.

'No, no one yet.' Blaine sighed. Sometimes ghosts were emotionally tied to the place where they died, which is why he had thought to come here. But obviously Thomas had other ideas. If he was even still around.

They waited in silence, more comfortable then the heavy one in the car ride over, and watched as the stars came out overhead.

By the time it was fully dark the couple across the lake had left and Kurt and Blaine were truly alone. Blaine wrapped his jacket around him as the night got cooler.

The lake was silent except for the rustling trees and the occasional call of some wild animal or another. Blaine was content to stay relaxing by the tree, but Kurt was getting more and more agitated the later it got.

Finally he stood up. 'Blaine I don't think he's going to be here.' He said. 'I think we should go, you're not safe here on your own.'

The look of worry on Kurt's face was touching and Blaine took a moment before standing up.

'You're right, I think if he was going to be here he'd have shown himself by now.'

'To the arcade then?' Kurt said, relieved that Blaine wasn't arguing.

'To the arcade!' Blaine cried out, pointing in a random direction and running back to his car laughing. Kurt couldn't help but join in with the laughter, following Blaine and climbing into the car next to him.

Blaine kept his head down as he walked around the busy arcade. It was Saturday night and busy, as Blaine expected it to be.

He couldn't help but feel out of place on his own. Sure he knew he was with someone, but no one else could see Kurt, and that was a problem.

Groups of teenagers gathered around various games, cheering each other on and playing exuberantly. He remembered fondly back to the times he had gone to the arcade with his own friends, while they had still been his friends.

He scanned the crowds, searching for Thomas, trying to distinguish his blonde hair and glasses from all the other heads in the throng.

After half an hour of wandering through the whole area he was sure Thomas wasn't among them. He was also getting tired of the looks people were giving him, wandering around on his own. He headed out of the door and back to his car, sensing more than seeing that Kurt was following him.

'Well that's it then.' Kurt sighed as they got back to the car. It had been hard for him not to talk to Blaine while they were in the arcade, but he hadn't wanted to make Blaine feel any more uncomfortable about being alone in the crowds.

'Maybe Thomas didn't hang around.' Blaine shrugged. 'We can drive on tomorrow and check out Gregory Ince.'

'Yeah.' Kurt agreed, trying not to let today's failure get to him. 'Tomorrow is another day.'


	7. Chapter 7

**Media:** Fanfic

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Haunted Life: Chapter 7

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.

As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, however the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.

But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it, Blaine just needs someone to believe in him

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three |Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six

'Gregory Ince, quarterback for the Eastville High Rangers, in his junior year, and quite cute too, for a jock.' Blaine said, reading back over their notes for the next ghost they were hunting. It was early on a Sunday morning and he and Kurt were seated in the bleachers at Eastville high school watching the football team get put through their paces.

Sure it wasn't the football season anymore, and it was the weekend, but apparently that didn't deter the coach. According to the school website Blaine had looked at the football team were required to attend four training sessions a week all year round, anyone who didn't turn up was cut from the team. It seemed a bit drastic, but after Blaine read through the list of games they had one, trophies they boasted and their stats he thought maybe the coach was onto something.

In fact it was at Sunday morning practice where Gregory was murdered. Apparently he had turned up early to train on his own, but when the rest of the team showed up they found him dead in the changing rooms.

Practice was still held on Sundays mornings though, but Blaine had passed a memorial plaque on his way to the stands and judging by the graffiti adoring the wall Gregory was obviously very well loved by the people at the school.

It was a dull grey morning and even though the temperature wasn't particularly low Blaine found himself wrapping his jacket tighter around himself.

'Do you think he'll be here?' Kurt asked, his eyes scanning the players on the field being put through their paces. There were a few other people seated in the stands, parents, friends and girlfriends of the people training Kurt assumed, so they didn't stand out.

'Possibly, I mean he obviously took training very seriously, maybe even after he died he still comes to practice?' Blaine shrugged. He was determined to stay positive this time.

'Well I can't see anyone.' Kurt sighed. 'But then I couldn't see my Mom, or any of the other ghosts in the school. You said there was one in Spanish class?'

'Yeah, a man hanging in the corner.' Blaine replied with a shudder. That particular ghost didn't move or say anything, he just hung in the corner, gently swaying to and fro, but Blaine couldn't take his eyes off of him for most of the lessons he was in there.

'I've never seen him, and I've spent hours in that classroom yelling at Mr. Schu.' Kurt said, his eyes still fixed on the players on the field. Blaine stared at him.

'Ok. Why are you shouting at Mr Schu?' Blaine asked. Kurt turned to face him and from the look on his face he had just registered how odd that must have sounded.

'Well... I mean I know he can't hear me but I was hoping if I shouted at him enough he might get some sort of subliminal message and stop wearing so many of those awful sweater vests.' Kurt said sheepishly.

Blaine bit his lip to keep himself from laughing loudly; keeping in mind the fact that he looked as though he was sitting on his own.

'Well judging by what he was wearing last week it seems to be having a reverse effect on him.' Blaine chuckled.

They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes watching the players practicing. Blaine winced as one of the players fumbled an easy pass. The coach came on to the field shouting at the player who looked a bit terrified.

But the coach wasn't the only one yelling at the boy; Blaine's attention was caught by one of the players that had been sitting on the bench for the entire practice. He had assumed that he was one of the coach's assistants taking notes on the other players but now he was out of his seat and screaming towards the field, echoing the coaches yells.

The other people on the bench weren't taking any notice of him but that didn't mean anything, maybe they were just used to him the way the students at McKinley were used to Coach Sue. But Blaine watched as he stomped on the grass and made to kick a helmet lying on the ground. His foot went straight though it.

'Did you see that?' Kurt exclaimed excitedly. Blaine nodded, exuberance rising in his chest at the thought they may have found Gregory already after yesterday's disaster. As he turned around to glare at the other people on the bench Blaine could see his face. His heart leapt into his chest as he recognized Gregory from his picture in the news reports.

'Wait, do you see him?' Blaine frowned; after all they had assumed Kurt couldn't see other ghosts.

'Uh yeah.' Kurt said looking as confused as Blaine felt. After a moment he shrugged. 'Well we've already admitted we have no idea how this thing works.'

'Ok, now we just need to wait till practice is over and speak to him.' Blaine said, a smile creeping onto his face. They might actually start getting somewhere with this!

'Why wait?' Kurt said, getting up and walking down to the pitch and walking over to Gregory who had calmed down enough now to sit back down on the bench. Blaine couldn't hear what was being said between Kurt and Gregory but as Kurt began to talk Greg cut him off sharply, making a few wild hand gestures before turning back to watch the players. Kurt crossed his arms and huffed before disappearing from view.

He reappeared instantly at Blaine's side making him jump.

'How do you do that?' Blaine mumbled, trying to hide the fact that he was talking to himself now that a couple had sat down a few rows above him.

'I'm not sure really. Anyway Greg obviously doesn't want to be disturbed, he told me to go away and let him watch the game. We might have to wait till they're done.' Kurt grumbled.

The practice lasted another forty five minutes and before the coach blasted the whistle, sending the players off to the changing rooms.

Blaine stood up and stretched out the stretched the stiffness out of his muscles, making his way down to the emptying pitch.

'He's gone.' Blaine whispered as Kurt joined him at his side. His stomach clenched uneasily, unable to shake off the dread that he might not come back and they would have lost their only lead so far.

Kurt sighed. 'Ok, you go wait by your car, I'll see if he's gone inside somewhere. He might be yelling at the players in the changing rooms.'

'Alright, I'll see you in a minute.' Blaine said quietly, making his way back to his car. He sat down on the grass by the parking lot and started to play a game on his phone. It was another ten minutes until Kurt came back to him, strolling across the parking lot, alone.

'Didn't you find him?' Blaine asked, he was hidden from sight behind his car so it didn't matter that he was talking to himself.

'Oh I found him! He was watching the girls track team getting changed.' Kurt said disdainfully. He shook his head and noticed Blaine was smirking at him. 'What?'

'Oh come on, you've never been tempted sneak in to the boys locker room?' He grinned. Kurt practically shook with indignity.

'No I have not!' He said sternly. 'That's such an abuse of privacy! And most of the guys on the sports teams have thrown me in the dumpster at some point so I don't really have any desire to see any of them naked.'

'Oh come one.' Blaine laughed, enjoying the way Kurt was squirming.

'Once ok. Who wouldn't if they suddenly became invisible to everyone! It was such a letdown.' Kurt couldn't help but grin at the way Blaine was almost howling with laughter at his response.

'Very true.' Blaine said as he calmed down. 'Tell me, does Puck have bragging rights on his 'Puckzilla'?'

Kurt scoffed. 'No more than any other guy I'd say. Although after seeing what he classes as a thorough wash I wouldn't like to investigate any further.'

Any further conversation was halted as Gregory joined them, sitting down and looking between Kurt and Blaine.

'Ok then, what's all this about?' He said. 'How can you see me?'

'Hi, I'm Blaine and this is Kurt. I can see dead people.' Blaine said simply. 'Kurt is in a coma in a hospital in Ohio. We think he was attacked by the same person who killed you and we think that finding him might get Kurt back in to his body.'

'And of course then that person can be punished for what he did to you.' Kurt added.

'And how's that supposed to work?' Gregory scoffed. 'I tell you who did it and you're magically back in your body? That's stupid.'

Kurt bristled at Gregory's tone.

'It's worth a try.' He said through gritted teeth. 'There's not exactly a guide book on how to go about situations like this is there? The only legitimate answer we ever seem to find is that the 'wandering spirit' needs closure. The only thing I need closure on right now is getting the person who did this to me!'

'Ok ok.' Gregory said, holding up his hands. 'Whatever, I'll help. I just don't know how much help I can be.'

'That's ok.' Blaine said soothingly. 'Just start from the beginning and tell us what you remember.'

'And if you catch the bastard you'll let the police know he was the one who killed me too right? I want my family to have closure on this too.'

'Of course we will.' Blaine promised, although how he could justify knowing something like that to police he had no idea.

'Ok.' Gregory sighed, running his hands through his hair. 'I remember waking up Sunday morning because my phone started beeping. But this was about ten minutes before my alarm was set so I was confused. I looked at my phone and it was a text from Lewis, one of Coach's assistants, telling me that the team was needed at practice two hours earlier than normal.'

'Does that kind of thing usually happen?' Blaine said, writing down what Gregory was telling him in a notepad.

'It's not uncommon for coach to make us practice for longer on the weekends when a game was coming up, but this was off season, so it was a bit strange.' Gregory shrugged. 'But the Coach has a strange way of coaching. As long as we're winning though no one questions it. So I just got up and came to the pitch to start practicing. No one else was here so I figured I was early and went to get changed.'

He fell silent for a moment, staring at his hands as they rested in his lap. Kurt and Blaine stayed quiet, letting Gregory go through his ordeal at his own pace. Blaine felt guilty all of a sudden. They were making this guy relive such a traumatic time so that Kurt could have another chance at life, something that Gregory could never have.

'I'd barely gotten into the changing rooms before someone attacked me from behind. He put a length of rope around my neck and started to strangle me. I tried to fight him off, I'm pretty strong, but this guy was stronger and I started to get dizzy real quick. Then everything went dark.'

Blaine felt him stomach clench uneasily, both at the horrible account of Gregory's murder and at the fear that the story was over already.

'That's awful, I'm so sorry.' Blaine said, wondering how he could say what he needed to ask without sounding callous. Thankfully Kurt stepped in.

'So you didn't see who attacked you?' He asked.

Gregory chuckled to himself a little. 'Oh I saw him. After I blacked out I woke up on the floor, so I got up and ran out of the changing room to get help, thinking whoever attacked me hadn't finished the job and had run away. I found one of the janitors just outside, doing something with his cleaning cart. I shouted at him for help but he just ignored me. He pulled out a cloth and started to wipe at all the handles on the cart, and then he walked over to the changing rooms and did the same to the doors. I followed him inside and... I don't even know how to describe it. I just saw myself lying on the floor, with the rope...' He stopped talking all of a sudden, blinking rapidly as if he were trying not to cry, even if, as a ghost, he couldn't.

'It was like when Patrick Swayze was killed in Ghost, you know? It was the strangest thing.' He shook his head and looked up at Kurt and Blaine. 'I watched as he cleared up after himself. There wasn't much for him to do you know, he'd been wearing gloves and had his hair tied back and had one of those plastic aprons on. I think he'd been watching too much CSI to be honest.

Gregory frowned, picking an imaginary piece of fluff from his jacket. 'He started taking pictures of me on a digital camera. Loads of them. But then his watch beeped, probably telling him it was time to get out of there, and he left. I tried to follow him but he got into his car and I couldn't keep up.'

He shrugged, throwing up his hands. 'And that's it; I think that's all I can tell you. The rest is all in the police reports I would reckon. I followed them around too as they investigated. I think they questioned every single person at this school.'

'So did they question the janitor?' Blaine asked, scribbling down in his notebook as quickly as he could.

Gregory shook his head. 'That's the thing. That janitor had only been working here for three months and he'd quit a month before I'd been attacked. He seemed to have planned this whole thing months before. Being a janitor he would have had access to keys all over the building, and people's phones when they left them in the changing room. He must have stolen or cloned Lewis's phone or something.'

'He certainly knew what he was doing.' Kurt sighed. 'That's why they've never caught him.'

'The police did try and bring him in for questioning I think.' Gregory said. 'But all the information he'd given led to dead ends. I think it must have been fake but they decided he just moved around a lot. They didn't investigate him any further.'

'He sounds like he's going to be hard to catch.' Blaine frowned, looking back over his notes. Maybe if he had the money, fake ID's and contacts that the Winchester brothers had he might be able to find and pin something on this guy, but a teenage boy who visited a therapist? No one was ever going to believe him.

'You're going to try though aren't you?' Gregory looked at him suspiciously. Blaine nodded.

'Of course we are.' He assured. 'Ok, so do you have a description of him?' He got his pen ready to take more notes, drawing wasn't his specialty.

'Ok, so, long blond hair. As I said he had it tied back but when he worked here it was always left loose. It was usually kind of greasy too. He had a really gaunt face too, like he was really sick or something, and dark circles under his eyes. He always wore those jumpsuits janitors here wear, but underneath he wore a t-shirt with heavy metal bands on them. And he had a weird kind of necklace made of string. Red and blue strands mixed together with a yellow bead at the front, it was ugly. Other than that he was average height, and really skinny. That's all I can really remember.'

'That's great.' Blaine smiled, writing furiously. He felt a little bit triumphant now that they had something to go one at least.

'You'll come and let me know if he gets arrested right? I can't actually turn on the news can I?'

'We promise.' Kurt nodded.

'All I can say is you'd better do it quick.' Gregory said, turning to Kurt.

Kurt frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'Look, I don't know much about the 'spirit world' as it were. But there's a girl here, she died about seventy years ago when this place used to be a farm. She said there are all different kinds of levels to this ghost thing. There are some ghosts who have been dead so long they're no longer visible to other ghosts, or people like you.' He added, nodding towards Blaine. 'Otherwise this place would be teaming with dead people wouldn't it? But at the other end of the scale are people who are only near death, like you Kurt. You're right on the edge and so you shouldn't be able to see into the spirit world any more than any other person. The fact that you can see me means you're getting closer and closer to death.'

Blaine gulped, he didn't like where this was going.

'If you don't get back to your body soon you might not be able to go back at all.' Gregory finished bleakly.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author:** Agent_girlsname

**Title:** Haunted Life: Chapter 8

**Rating**: PG13

**Summary:**

Blaine Anderson has a secret, he can see dead people. It isn't as readily accepted as the movies would have you believe and he has to leave two different schools because of the bullying.

As he attends William McKinley High he resolves to completely ignore the ghosts, hoping they will leave him alone, however the ghost of Kurt Hummel isn't so easy to ignore.

But Kurt isn't dead; he's in a coma after being attacked and needs Blaine to help him catch who did it, Blaine just needs someone to believe in him

Blaine wondered if ghosts could get grey hairs from worrying too much. Kurt had not stopped fretting since they had left Gregory and the school behind. And Blaine couldn't really blame him.

The description of the man who had attacked Kurt had not stirred any memories of the attack, and they had no idea who he was or where he might be now. They were no closer to getting Kurt back in his body then they had been before.

'We still have a few more places to try; maybe someone else will have a name?' Blaine said, trying to keep Kurt from worrying too much.

'If we get a name it'll probably be fake. And even if it's not I don't think he sounds like the type of guy to be listed in the phone book.' Kurt sulked.

Blaine didn't answer, turning back to his mirror to finish gelling down his hair.

Today was Regionals day and in half an hour Blaine would need to leave to get the bus at McKinley and join the rest of the glee club. He was nervous and excited; it was his first time performing in front of an audience, his first chance of actually winning and being a part of something.

But he also felt guilty. It had been a week since they had spoken to Gregory and although they had both wanted to stay longer, or find another victim and try and figure this all out, Blaine had to drive back home before his parents got back.

Blaine had offered to miss Regionals to try and help Kurt some more, but Kurt said no, saying he couldn't let New Directions down and besides, Blaine was doing more than enough to help him.

Soon enough the New Directions were crowded into a dressing room, putting the final touches to their outfits and make up, running through the details one last time before someone called them onto the stage.

Kurt had stayed away from Blaine while he had been on the bus and with the rest of the group, as he usually did when Blaine was with other people. He wanted Blaine to feel comfortable.

But as they all walked on to the stage Kurt was stood by one of the curtains, smiling at Blaine and looking wistfully at the rest of the group.

'Go be amazing.' He grinned at Blaine as they all walked by him. Blaine winked at him and got into position next to Brittany on the stage. When he looked back to where Kurt had been he was gone.

Suddenly the lights went out, the music started and what followed was probably the most exciting few minutes of Blaine's life. He sang clearly, danced in time and as the crowd cheered he knew he found a place where he wanted to be.

While the overwhelming elation that came from the adulation of the crowd was something Blaine had never felt before, the easy approval was something he had always craved.

They all came off the stage, flushed and elated, chattering excitedly between themselves as they returned to the dressing room.

'You were amazing.' Kurt grinned at him as Blaine exited the stage last. Blaine turned and smiled back broadly before turning around to follow the rest of the group.

Suddenly Blaine stumbled, crashing into the wall and crying out as a pain shot through his shoulder. As he looked up he came face to face with someone he had hoped never to lay eyes on again.

'Hey freak show, didn't think I'd ever see you here. Where are all your imaginary friends?' The sneering face of Jamie Langdon loomed down at him as Blaine straightened himself up.

'Yeah, you do know these people are real and not ghosts right?' Oliver joined his friend's side and leered at Blaine.

Blaine felt his insides freeze. Jamie and Oliver had once been his friends at his first school. Not best friends, or even close, but they had been in music, gym and Chemistry together. They had got on well and it had genuinely hurt Blaine when they had found out his secret and turned on him.

Other people taunted him and laughed at him at that school once it got out, but Jamie and Oliver, along with a few of their other friends, had been the worst, setting up practical jokes and spraying stupid things over his locker, inciting everyone else to be just as cruel. Just seeing them again now was enough to make Blaine tremble at the memories.

'Hey, what's going on?' Finn said, walking over to them. Blaine looked over to where he stood. The rest of the New Directions had gathered around them now. Blaine should have felt relieved, but all he could do was worry that they would tell his secret to the group and he would be run out of school again.

'Nothing.' Oliver grinned sadistically, clapping Blaine on the shoulder in a faux friendly manner. 'Just catching up with an old buddy here.'

'Yeah, take it you have Blaine in your little group now?' Jamie joined in. 'Have you met his imaginary friends yet?'

The few faces of New Directions that Blaine could see suddenly adopted confused expressions.

_Oh God please no_! Blaine could hardly breathe and his heart felt as if it were going to hammer out of his chest at any moment. This couldn't be happening. He had finally found a place where he felt accepted and part of something, he had finally found something he loved doing. And now it was going to be taken away from him.

'What do you mean?' Artie frowned, wheeling himself into Blaine's view. Blaine felt his knees go weak and braced himself against the wall to stop himself from falling.

'Blaine can talk to dead people.' Jamie sneered, laughing at Blaine's horrified expression. 'All his friends are ghosts.'

The corridor went silent and Blaine felt sick.

'He thinks there are ghosts everywhere and he can talk to them.' Oliver joined in, laughing loudly. 'He's such a freak.' He punctuated his statement by shoving Blaine against the wall once more.

'Hey.' Finn, Puck and Mike broke from the New Directions crowd and stepped in between Blaine and his tormenters. 'He may be a freak, but he's our freak.'

'Yeah, you don't get to shove him.' Puck joined in, sizing the two boys up in case a fight broke out.

Blaine blinked. That was... unexpected.

Jamie scoffed. 'Whatever dudes, you're welcome him. We're on next anyway.' He looked over to Oliver and they both left, giving Puck a wide berth in case he decided to start a fight anyway.

Time seemed to freeze as Blaine was left alone with the New Directions once more. He wasn't sure how to react, his secret had been spilled but still they had protected him. They hadn't joined in with the bullying or looked at him as if he were crazy.

He felt a warm hand slip into his and looked up to find Tina smiling at him.

'Come, we need to go get our stuff and go to our seats, the next group is almost up.' She said warmly.

Blaine followed her, feeling numb and confused. He stood in a corner as they rest of the group got their stuff. After a minute Finn noticed him staring at everyone.

'Everything ok dude?' He said.

'You guys heard what they said didn't you?' Blaine asked, suddenly feeling the need to make sure he hadn't imagined the whole thing.

'Yeah, we figured they're full of crap.' Puck shrugged, throwing a few things in his bag. 'Why, is it true?'

Suddenly all eyes were on Blaine and he wished he hadn't said anything at all. He nodded slightly.

'My therapist thinks it's some sort of psychosis.' He said simply.

'Oh.' Finn replied, looking as though he didn't know quite what to say to that. Although Blaine had seen that expression on his a few times now.

'Do you... do you all think I'm crazy?' He asked tentatively. At least if people started tormenting him he knew where he stood. The acceptance of the New Directions was just too easy for it to be true.

'Dude, Brittany thinks her cat reads her diary, we're used to crazy around here.' Finn smiled, clapping Blaine on the shoulder.

'Oh... ok.' Blaine said. So they did think he was crazy, they just didn't see it as a problem.

'I told you they were nice.' Kurt said, appearing at his side. 'They're a group who've been through a lot of crazy things together. They've had teenage pregnancy, inappropriate crushes, Rachel thinking sending someone to a crack house was a good idea and overlong exposure to Sue Sylvester. I know none of that is in the same calibre as someone having a genuine mental disorder, but it takes a lot to throw them now.'

Blaine felt himself relax and he began to clear his stuff away.

'So those guys were from your old school?' Sam asked.

'Yeah, there wasn't a glee club there when I was there, it must be new. They used to be my friends.' He added sadly.

'Wow that sucks.' Sam replied, making Blaine laugh.

'It really does.'

'If I were you I'd stick a ghost on them, make them wet themselves, preferably in public.' Santana suggested.

'If I could I definitely would.' Blaine said. 'But they're not actually real.' He didn't want to push the matter by trying to convince the group he actually saw ghosts.

'Shame, you could dig up some really good dirt on people.' She replied, linking arms with Brittany and walking out of the dressing room.

Blaine head was still reeling by the time he was seated in the audience ready to watch the next group go up. He was sat in the middle of the group, in between Tina and Sam, and he couldn't help sneaking glances at the rest of the group.

None of them were staring at him, but they weren't ignoring him either. There were no strange looks or furtive whispers in his direction; everyone was focused on the next group's performance.

Finally Blaine let himself relax back in the chair and watch the other group. It felt far too easy to be accepted just like that, but maybe Kurt was right, the New Directions were already a group of outcasts, maybe it really didn't matter to them.

He scowled slightly as Oliver took lead vocals. He'd made Blaine's life a misery and was now soaking up the cheers of the crowd, enjoying the moment just as Blaine had a few minutes earlier. He thought maybe he should feel guilty at wanting Oliver to mess up and embarrass himself, get just a little bit of what Blaine had dealt with so much, but then he figured he shouldn't feel guilty; Oliver deserved it after everything he did.

Suddenly, among the dancers on the stage, Kurt appeared. Blaine tensed, what was he doing?

Kurt wandered over to Oliver who was now standing centre stage and belting out notes and dancing a few steps. He stared right into the singers face but of course Oliver looked straight through him. Suddenly Kurt grinned and stuck his foot out, catching Oliver's as he went to take a step and sending him crashing to the ground.

The crowd gasped and the dancers on stage faltered, taking a moment before returning to their steps. Oliver got up and started signing again, but the first few notes were off key. All in all it was not a graceful recovery.

'Ha! Did you see that?' Kurt laughed, appearing next to Blaine and leaning against the chairs in front of them. He was technically standing in Sam's way, but Sam obviously didn't mind.

Blaine frowned slightly, effectively asking Kurt all the questions in his head.

'Well, when we were speaking to Gregory he mentioned something about the movie Ghost, it just reminded me of when he learned to move things, all he had to do was focus. So that's what I did, I put all my focus into my foot and he tripped over it!' Kurt was laughing gleefully now and it was hard for Blaine not to join in.

'I thought it served him right for being such a bully to you.' Kurt added after a moment. Blaine felt his breath catch and he nodded very slightly. _Thank you_.

The performance ended and Blaine joined in with the applause, but he noticed the crowd wasn't too enthusiastic. The group hadn't recovered well from Oliver's stumble.

'Ok, that was the last group; it's time to get back on stage for the scores.' Mr Schuster said.

If the whole performance had been the most fun Blaine had ever had it was nothing compared to the nervousness he was feeling now.

He stood in a huddle with the rest of the group, clenching hands with Tina and Mercedes as the woman holding the envelopes delivered an important message about giving blood to the audience.

He had loved the taking part; he knew loosing wouldn't take anything away from that. But he desperately wanted to win so he could do it all again.

His blood was rushing through his ears so loudly he almost didn't hear the woman announce second place.

The all girls school glee club had started cheering grabbed their trophy and exited the stage. Blaine felt his chest tighten a little. They hadn't come second, but that didn't mean they hadn't lost yet. There was still Jamie and Oliver's school to go yet.

It seemed to take the woman hours to pull the first place results from the envelope and by the time she had raised the microphone to her lips Blaine's hands were sweaty and his heart was pounding.

'And first place.' She said, licking her lips slowly. Blaine gasped in a breath and willed her to hurry up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kurt standing at the edge of the New Directions, looking about as tense and nervous as the rest of them.

'New Directions!' She announced. Suddenly all Blaine could hear was yelling. The girls screaming in celebration, the guys cheering and his own cries of happiness.

Everyone was hugging or high fiving each other and as Blaine untangled himself from a messy hug with Rachel and Tina to high five Puck he noticed Kurt doing a half bow half curtsy to the audience. Blaine caught his eye as Kurt turned back.

'What?' Kurt grinned. 'I can celebrate too.' He winked. Blaine just laughed and carried on cheering.

Taking part was fun but winning was just amazing, Blaine decided.

They carried on celebrating for a few minutes more, until the audience begun to disperse, before returning to their dressing room.

As they were exiting the stage, among the excited voices chattering away to each other, there came a bloodcurdling shriek. Blaine felt his blood turn to ice in his veins and his head whipped round to find the source of the scream.

'Come on B, we've got to get on the bus.' Mercedes said, linking her arm through his and trying to pull his along with the rest of the group, no one else had apparently heard the noise.

Blaine shook his head and finally his eyes fell on to Kurt, standing a few feet away and looking terrified.

'I'll be there, I just have to... I'll meet you at the bus.' He mumbled before running over to where Kurt was standing. His hands were shaking and he was staring straight ahead with wide eyes.

Blaine pulled his phone from his pocket so he didn't look as though he was talking to himself.

'What's wrong?' He said, pressing the phone against his ear.

'It's him.' Kurt hissed, pointing ahead with a trembling hand. Blaine followed where he was pointing, his eyes landing on a man in a maintenance uniform unscrewing a notice from the wall. He had long, lanky blonde hair and a red and blue string necklace.

Blaine almost dropped his phone. He looked exactly like the guy Gregory had described.

'I recognize him now Blaine.' Kurt whispered, his hands flying up to his neck. 'Now I've seen him I remember everything.'

'Ok, right, what do we do?' Blaine asked, but Kurt didn't respond. When Blaine looked over to him Kurt had vanished.

Blaine tried not to panic, Kurt disappeared all the time when he was upset or shocked, it didn't mean anything bad had happened, he'd be back. But what was he meant to do now?

This was the part of the plan they hadn't worked out yet, what to do when they did find the man responsible. He was a slippery person, able to hide himself away and disappear at a moment notice; they couldn't leave anything to chance.

But then how was Blaine meant to tell anyone about what had happened?

He sighed deeply. He had one plan half formed in the back of his mind, a desperate attempt when nothing else seemed likely.

Blaine ran over to a bank of payphones by the entrance doors, breathing a sigh of relief that they were empty and no one was around them.

He picked one up and deposited some quarters into the slot, dialling the operator and asking to be put through to the local police.

After a few rings someone picked up and Blaine took a deep breath.

'I'm at the Lincoln Memorial hall, there's a mantienance man here, I think his name badge said he was called Bradley. I accidentally picked up his phone earlier and saw some really sick photos on it, like little kids and stuff, I think you should check it out.' He said in a rush.

It was a half formed plan he had in the back of his mind since last week when Gregory mentioned his murderer had taken pictures of him after he had been killed. He had to keep those pictures somewhere right? So he could look over them again and again at his own sick leisure. And child pornography wasn't something the police were likely to ignore. They'd take away his phone, his camera and his computer, they'd be able to search them thoroughly and keep an eye on him while they did that. They'd find the pictures of Gregory, and the others if this was something he did at every murder.

'Ok son, we take these matters very seriously, can you tell me your name?' The officer at the other end of the phone said.

'I can't, you just have to catch this man.' Blaine said, hanging up the phone. He picked up his bag and hurried out to the bus, hoping he'd done good. He couldn't think of anything else he could have done.

'I'm sorry, I had to call someone.' Blaine said as he rushed back onto the bus. He took his seat next to Mercedes and tried to catch his breath.

'It's ok, we're waiting on Finn anyway, he's outside on the phone.' Mercedes said.

Blaine glanced out of the window and saw that Finn was indeed on the phone. He was grinning and talking excitedly.

'Who's he talking to?'

'His step dad.' Mercedes replied. Blaine faltered for a moment. Kurt's sudden disappearance, Finn talking to his step dad, they couldn't be related could they? Had something happened to Kurt?

But no, Finn was smiling as he climbed back into the bus, that could only mean...

'Kurt's awake!' Finn cried out excitedly.

**Comments are love 3 Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you to everyone who had been reviewing, I'm glad to know you're enjoying it! Only two more chapters left now! And this chapter will be a bit hard on Blaine... but stay with it ;) **

Blaine was lonely. He had assumed that seeing the janitor at Regionals had done something to Kurt that had made him wake up, and that was a good thing, it was what they had been aiming for after all but then why hadn't Kurt called him? It had been ten days since Kurt had woken up now.

He understood why at first, Kurt had just woken from a coma; Blaine had no idea what state he was in. He had spent all of the weekend worrying, wondering if that attack had left Kurt brain damaged and unable to communicate.

But first thing on Monday morning Finn had called them all in to the choir room before classes started and told everyone how Kurt was doing.

'He's still really tired and everything but he's fine. The doctors are running some more tests today and then they're letting him come home already. He's still a bit too tired for many visitors though.'

The glee club had cheered and released a collective sigh of relief. But Blaine was still tense.

He spent the next couple of days trying not to fret. Kurt had a lot of things to deal with now, getting home and recovering. But why had he still not made any contact? He must know that Blaine would be anxious to see him.

_Unless..._

Blaine shook his head, refusing to even think about it. But as the days passed it became the only possible explanation.

_Unless Kurt didn't remember him_.

It would explain why it was difficult to find out any information about people whose spirits wandered while they were in a coma. When they woke up they simply didn't remember anything that had happened to them.

It would also explain why Kurt hadn't contacted him, he didn't remember.

Blaine's heart sank as he let the thought sink in. He had wondered about it over the last few weeks but had refused to entertain the thought. He needed Kurt and the possibility that getting back into his body meant losing him was just far too painful.

They had discussed the notion that they might fail to get Kurt back into his body all together, or that Kurt might be too far gone to return. But they never spoke about Kurt not remembering anything when he woke up. Blaine wondered if Kurt had even thought of it as a possibility.

For a few days after he had accepted the idea as a possibility he still held out hope that Kurt would call him, he couldn't let go of it quite so easily.

But now, as he stood at his locker between classes a whole ten days after Kurt had woken up, it seemed the most likely outcome.

He'd heard from Tina that morning that Kurt was back at school today. He was shocked at first, he didn't expect him to be back so soon, but he hadn't managed to see the boy all day. He was just wondering if he should go and find Kurt to find out once and for all what the situation was when he heard Tina's excited voice around the corner.

She appeared a few seconds later, arm linked through one of Kurt's and holding on to him tightly, as if she were afraid he would slip away again if she let go of him in the crowd, Mike following behind them, casting a protective gaze over the pair.

'Ah, here he is!' She grinned, catching sight of Blaine.

'Kurt, this is Blaine, Blaine, Kurt.' Tina said, dragging Kurt over to Blaine's locker. Blaine's heart leapt at the sight of the other boy, searching his eyes for any sign of familiarity.

'I'll leave you two alone.' Tina grinned, scuttling off and dragging Mike along with her.

Blaine could feel his heart pounding in his chest. This was it, the first time he and Kurt had seen each other since Kurt had woken up. Now was the time to see whether Kurt remembered him or not.

'So I hear you took my place in Glee while I was in hospital.' Kurt said, holding his hand out for Blaine to shake and smiling warmly. But it was all so formal, not the sort of interaction you would expect from two boys who had spent so many hours together over the last few weeks, who had shared so many private and secret moments. There was no hint of reorganization in his eyes at all.

Blaine felt as though he was going to throw up. The world began to spin around him and he had to clench onto the cold metal of his locker to stop himself from wobbling. This was it, this was as bad as it could get right now and as bad as it was Blaine had dealt with much worse. Having his biggest hope torn away from him couldn't be as bad as having his parents reject him, could it?

He took a deep breath and turned to Kurt, shaking his hand and forcing himself to return the warm smile.

'Yeah, it's nice to meet you; the glee club had so many nice things to say about you, they've really missed you.' He said, trying to keep his voice from breaking as he kept the tears at bay.

'Thank you.' Kurt grinned. 'Tina's been ranting about you all day; she said you're a really good singer.'

Blaine shrugged and turned to manoeuvre the books in his locker, looking at Kurt was just too painful for him at that moment.

'I'm ok I guess.' He replied.

'Well you must have been more then ok to win at Regional's.' Kurt laughed, the sound making Blaine's heart ache even more. He'd missed Kurt's laugh, he'd missed the way being the cause of Kurt's laugh had made him feel.

'Well team effort and all that.' Blaine said, blushing a little.

'Stop being so modest.' Kurt teased, leaning against the lockers and dropping his bag to the floor.

'Are you ok?' Blaine asked, a sudden slump had appeared in Kurt's shoulders and his eyelids fluttered for a moment.

'I'm fine.' Kurt said, waving Blaine's concern away with one hand. 'Just a bit tired really. Being in a coma for a while takes it out of you.'

'Maybe you should have waited for a bit before you came back.' Blaine frowned.

'Oh no, one week of daytime TV and the thought that I might have to repeat my junior year is enough for me.' Kurt shook his head. 'I needed to come back as soon as possible.'

'Well I'm sure you'll be fine.' Blaine said, feeling the weight from his chest ease a little. The conversation was as easy and natural as it ever had been between them and it got Blaine thinking. Even if Kurt didn't remember him, that didn't mean they couldn't be friends now. They could become as close as they had been before. Closer even, now that he could reach out and touch Kurt.

'I hope so; the teachers are being really supportive for a change. They're letting me catch up during classes.'

'What class do you have now?' Blaine asked.

'Spanish.'

'Here, I'll walk you there.' Blaine offered, picking Kurt's bag up from the floor. Kurt's expression softened and he looked at Blaine in a way that made his heart begin to pound in his chest once more.

'Thank you.' Kurt said softly, pushing himself up from the lockers and following Blaine towards the Spanish classroom. It was only around the corner so it didn't take long, but Blaine wanted to use the opportunity to spend time with Kurt as best as he could.

They spoke briefly about Blaine's time at McKinley, Blaine commenting that the best thing about the school was the glee club and how it felt nice to be part of a family for once.

'So you're definitely staying then?' Kurt grinned as they stopped outside the classroom.

'Oh definitely.' Blaine grinned back.

'Ok then, I'll see you this afternoon at practice.' Kurt said, taking his bag back from Blaine and turning to walk into class. 'Thank you for- oh!' Kurt stopped suddenly, gasping and throwing his hands up to his face.

'Kurt?' Blaine asked, putting a hand on Kurt's shoulder, fear coursing through him at the terrified expression on Kurt's face.

Kurt shook his head and stepped backwards until his back hit the wall opposite the classroom and he slid down on to the floor.

'What is it Kurt?' Blaine said, crouching down next to him. Kurt was breathing quickly and his hands were trembling.

'Kurt? Is everything ok?' Mr Schuster appeared in the doorway of the classroom. Blaine looked up to him but Kurt seemed to be staring past him. As the Spanish teacher crouched next to Kurt Blaine followed his glance, his eyes immediately drawn to the hanging man in the corner.

Blaine frowned; surely that wasn't what Kurt was looking at, was it? How could he even see-

'Oh.' Blaine gasped. That was unexpected.

'Kurt, come on look at me.' Mr Schuster said, shaking Kurt's shoulder gently.

'Maybe he's having some sort of flashback to the attack.' Blaine offered. He grabbed Kurt's biceps and lifted him to his feet. 'We should get him to the Nurse's office.

'Ok class, back to your seats, I'll be back soon.' Mr Schuster called back to the crowd of students that had gathered at the classroom door.

Together they half carried Kurt to the Nurse's office and sat him down in a chair. But they still couldn't get any kind of response from the shocked boy.

'Maybe you should call his dad.' Blaine said to the teacher, desperate to get him out of the way for a moment so he could talk to Kurt.

'Ok, I'll be back in a moment.' He said, running out of the room.

'Kurt?' Blaine called softly, ducking down to try and catch the boys eyes and get him to look up. It took a moment but finally Kurt looked him, though his eyes were still wide with fear.

'You could see the man hanging in the corner couldn't you?' Blaine whispered. Kurt seemed to look even more shocked, though Blaine hadn't thought it was possible. 'It's ok, I see him too.'

Kurt frowned. 'You can?' Blaine nodded. 'Then why isn't someone doing something about him? Why are they letting him hang there? What's going on?' Tears sprung from Kurt's eyes as the panicked boy seemed to get more and more agitated.

'They don't see him. No one else can. But I can.'

'What do you mean?'

'He's a ghost Kurt. I think you can see ghosts.'


	10. Chapter 10

_**This is the final chapter and the epilogue, the angst is over! **_

Blaine stood in his kitchen chopping up tomatoes for his dinner and singing along to the radio. He couldn't wait to just eat his food and then go to bed, he was exhausted.

He had worked through so many emotions that day he could barely make it through the drama-fest that was glee club. He had gone from being entirely hopeful to completely devastated, to be terrified for Kurt and then thoroughly confused.

He tipped the tomatoes into a saucepan and reached over to stir the pasta. It was the same meal he always made, but it was the only thing he knew how to make and once again his parents were out for the night.

Kurt didn't have any time to respond to Blaine's revelation, Mr Schu had returned a few seconds later and told Kurt that his dad was on his way. After that Kurt had completely shut down, refusing to speak to either of them until his dad arrived to take him home.

Blaine had spent the rest of the afternoon going over what had happened. Kurt had been able to see the ghost of the man hanging in the corner. Did that mean that he could see ghosts as well now? And why now, had the attack done something to him? Had his time in the spirit world made him able to perceive its inhabitants now?

He idly wondered if he had had a near death experience when he was young that would explain why he was able to see ghosts. He'd have to ask Cooper next time they spoke.

A small part of him pitied Kurt, if that was the case. He knew how awful it was to have this so called 'gift' thrust upon you. But another, shamelessly larger then he cared to acknowledge, part of him was a little bit thrilled. After all, hadn't he always wanted someone to believe him? If Kurt shared this gift he could hardly deny Blaine was telling the truth.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as the doorbell rang. He wiped his hands on a dishcloth and walked to the front door, opening to reveal Kurt standing on his doorstep.

'Hi.' Blaine said, hoping he didn't look as confused as he felt to find Kurt at his front door.

'I don't know why I'm here.' Kurt frowned.

'Oh, ok.' Blaine replied. They paused for a second before Blaine held open the front door. 'Do you want to come in?' Kurt nodded and Blaine led him through to the kitchen, pulling out a chair for him and returning to preparing his dinner.

Kurt remained silent and Blaine didn't try to make him talk, after all Kurt had been through a lot and Blaine didn't want to push him.

'I don't know why I'm here.' Kurt repeated quietly after a few minutes of silence. 'I'm not even sure how I know where you live.'

'How are you feeling, after this afternoon?' Blaine asked.

'Um, ok I guess. Dad is still pretty worried about me, he didn't want me to go back in the first place and now I don't think he'll let me for a while.'

Blaine nodded and they both fell silent for a moment.

'Um, about what happened this afternoon.' Kurt started, staring intently down at his hands. 'I don't think I understand...'

'Ok.' Blaine started; his heart began to pound in his chest, nerves rising as they did every time he was made to actually talk to someone about this subject. 'Well, you saw the guy hanging in the classroom right?' Kurt flinched slightly, but nodded slowly.

'Yeah, I saw him; you said he was a ghost.' Kurt replied.

'Yeah, he is.'

'But ghosts don't exist.' Kurt whispered, although he didn't sound as if he believed himself.

'They don't.' Blaine said, making Kurt look up at him finally. 'Not to the majority of people. Most of them can't see ghosts. But there are a few, and I mean very few, people who can see them.'

'And you can see them too?' Kurt asked.

'Yeah, I always have been able to, ever since I was young.'

Kurt fell silent for a moment, looking as though he was either going to say something else or flee the room entirely.

'When I woke up in hospital my Dad and Stepmom were visiting. But my Mom was there too.' Kurt said quietly. 'My Mom died when I was young.' He looked up and Blaine could see tears welling at the corner of Kurt's eyes. 'She was only there for a second, but I could see her, then she went. When I thought about it later I thought it was just something to do with waking up after so long or maybe I'd suffered a bit of brain damage from the attack and I was just hallucinating.'

Blaine nodded; no normal person would automatically think they were now able to see ghosts when they saw one.

'But later that night when everyone had gone a woman came into my room, she started screaming at me, saying I was in her room and I had to get out. Her face was burned and she looked horrific.' Kurt said with a shudder. Blaine noticed that he was trembling and was tempted to reach out and touch him, to reassure him in some way that he was safe, but something about Kurt's posture told him that it wouldn't help.

'I started screaming, she was terrifying, she just kept shouting at me and came towards me. Two nurses came in and the woman just vanished but I was still screaming. They gave me shot of something to calm me down and when I did they left. But I couldn't get to sleep; I was so scared that woman was going to come back.

'After a while someone else appeared in my room. It was my Mom. She literally appeared all bathed in light and I know it sounds ridiculous but I instantly felt so much calmer. She stayed with me and sang to me a little until I had completely calmed down. Then she told me about you.'

Blaine's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

'Wha- um, what did she say about me?' Blaine stuttered. He reached over to turn out the pasta and the sauce and settled down at the table opposite Kurt.

'She said that you had been taking care of me and that I was going to need a lot of help and that I should trust you.' Kurt replied. 'When I woke up the next morning I thought I had dreamed everything, but then Finn was visiting and he was telling me about everything I've missed, and he told me about a new guy in Glee club that just so happened to have the exact same name as the boy my Mom told me to find. That's why I was so keen to meet you and asked Tina to introduce us. I was still so sceptical of everything that had happened, but when I met you I really felt as though I knew you already. ' Kurt blushed slightly. 'It made me start to think that maybe it had all happened after all. Then I saw the... ghost thing in Spanish class that proved it.' He scoffed slightly.

'Yeah that'll do it.' Blaine smiled.

'Can I ask you something?' Kurt said softly, narrowing his eyes and looking at Blaine with such an intensity he knew this was going to be something important, something Kurt was trusting him with.

'Sure.' He replied.

'When I was in a coma, was I a ghost?' Kurt looked like he expected to be ridiculed for asking that. Blaine reached over and clasped both of his hands around one of Kurt's, grasping firmly. A spark of electricity shot through him at the contact, thrilling him to have proper physical contact with Kurt at last. The frenziedly assisting Kurt to the nurse's office earlier that day didn't seem to count.

'You were.' He answered simply, not wanting to bombard Kurt with information he might not want.

'And did you see me?'

'You were hard to miss.' Blaine smiled. 'You were shouting at Rachel during Glee club for taking one of your solos.'

'Oh.' Kurt replied, and then he smiled. 'Yeah that sounds like me.' There were a few moments silence where he stared at Blaine's hands enveloping his own, but he didn't move. 'She said you helped me wake up.'

Blaine nodded. 'Yeah, I did.' Story of ghost hunts and chasing murderers were probably best left for another time, he thought.

'But I don't remember any of it.' Kurt said with a frown.

'You apparently do a little.' Blaine replied. At Kurt's puzzled look he added. 'You found your way here didn't you?'

'Oh.' Kurt gasped. 'How_ did_ I get here?'

Blaine laughed, he couldn't help it, everything seemed so absurd and yet completely normal. Kurt looked scandalized for a split second before joining in on the laughter.

'So I see ghosts now?' Kurt said when they had both calmed down. Blaine nodded. 'Seriously?'

Blaine bit his lips to stop from laughing again. The situation was bizarre, but also a bit tragic. He didn't want Kurt to be plagued with the same 'gift' that he had. But at least now he could help Kurt through it, so that he didn't have the same experience as Blaine did discovering it.

A small part of him was also celebrating the fact that Kurt was still here, still holding hands with him, not running for the hills or calling him a freak.

'So was my Mom right? Can I trust you Blaine?' Kurt asked. 'Will you help me?'

'Of course I'll help you Kurt.' Blaine said sincerely, squeezing tighter on Kurt's hand and grinning when the other boy smiled.

'Thank you.' Kurt replied. 'And... Thank you, you know, for not thinking I'm crazy.' He blushed again.

'I could say the same thing.' Blaine laughed. 'Um, do you want to stay for dinner? It's just pasta, but you're welcome to stay.'

'I'd love to.' Kurt grinned. 'Can we talk some more about, you know, the craziness? I have a lot of questions.'

'Sure we can.' Blaine was almost trembling with the effort not to run around the kitchen cheering. He finally had someone in his life that not only believed him, but now also shared his problem.

'Great! Is it ok if I call my Dad first? I kinda ran out without telling him where I was going and... Yep, nine missed calls.' Kurt said, pulling his phone from his pocket.

'Sure, the living rooms through there if you want some privacy, dinner will be ready in a bit.' Blaine said, pointing towards the other room.

'Thanks.' Kurt disappeared into the other room and Blaine waited until the door had closed before he literally started jumping for joy.

Things weren't perfect; Kurt didn't remember anything specific from their time together and was now cursed with the same gift as Blaine. But Blaine couldn't help but be happy. He had someone to share things with, someone who he knew he could trust.

And it was better now. Kurt was real, Blaine could reach out and touch him, hold him, even kiss him. Well, maybe not just yet, he smiled to himself. But there had been something there before, something that was real even if Kurt hadn't been. They could regrow that closeness, after all Blaine already had a head start, he knew Kurt and knew what he liked.

Blaine served the pasta and sauce on the kitchen table just as Kurt came back into the room. His heart fluttered at the sight of him and he had to restrain himself from rushing over to Kurt and kissing him. As much as Kurt said he had already felt a connection Blaine knew that would be taking it too far.

Besides, they had time now.

Kurt sat down at the table and inhaled deeply over the pasta dish, reminding Blaine strongly of the last time he had done that as a ghost.

'Smells fantastic.' Kurt grinned.

'Thank you.' Blaine replied, sitting down and picking up his own fork.

'So Blaine, tell me about yourself.' Kurt said. Blaine smiled and set down his fork, gazing over at Kurt and for the very first time in his life he said with absolute confidence:

'I'm Blaine Anderson, I'm gay, in my junior year and I see dead people.'

_**Epilogue: **_

'Alright everyone, five minutes!' Mr Schuster called through the door of the dressing room before disappearing again.

The excitement in the room doubled as everyone rushed to finish getting ready. They were in New York City, five minutes away from hitting the stage at the National Show Choir Championships.

Blaine could feel his hands tremble a little as he straightened his tie in the mirror. He had the opening lines of the first song; he'd be the first one on that stage out there, exposed and alone to the crowd.

'You're going to be fine.' Kurt smiled, coming up behind him and reaching up to finish adjusting his tie.

'I know, I'm just-'

'You're amazing; you're going to knock them dead.' Kurt insisted, resting his hands on Blaine's shoulders and looking him in the eyes. 'I know you will.'

Blaine smiled as Kurt's words settled the nervousness dwelling in him, as they always did. Whatever the situation, whether it was facing up to bullies at school, fighting for a solo or even standing up to his father, Kurt always seemed to know the right words to steady Blaine.

He leant in to close the few inches between them and placed a chaste kiss on Kurt's lips, whispering a heartfelt 'I love you' against them.

They had started out as friends; the instant connection Kurt had felt cementing the relationship fairly quickly. But after just three and a half weeks Blaine had opened the front door one night to find Kurt standing there, just as he had been the first night he had come round.

'I love you Blaine.' He said as soon as Blaine had opened the door. He had stepped inside and took both of Blaine's hands in his own. 'I know we haven't known each other for very long but I feel closer to you than anyone I've ever met. I hate every second that we're apart and I just- I love you.'

'I love you Kurt.' Blaine whispered, using Kurt's grip on his hands to pull him in and kiss him deeply, something he had wanted to do for so long.

Since that moment they had become even more inseparable then before.

Blaine took it upon himself to teach Kurt everything he could about their shared gift so he wouldn't be surprised by anything like Blaine had been. He had eased Kurt in slowly, taking him to places where he knew the more friendly spirits haunted. Kurt had been scared and Blaine had held him while he shook with fear, but eventually Kurt calmed down. He slowly learned how to live with seeing the spirits.

Blaine had found it so much more of a relief to talk about it with someone then he had thought it would be. Being able to talk to Kurt and to be believed meant the world to him. He was finally able to get everything off his chest and share his thoughts and fears.

His life was better now. After some frank discussions with his parents he was getting on better with them, he had friends at school now who didn't think he was a freak and he had someone he could share everything with.

So even though he saw the ghost of a young girl who had clearly had her throat cut still sitting at a mirror and adjusting her makeup, it was ok. Because Kurt could see her too and insisted that he and Blaine use the mirrors at the other end of the room.

'The lightings better.' He had insisted. And no one had argued or thought it strange. Having someone else in it with him made the situation better for Blaine. They could deal with it together.

'Anyway, how are you holding up today?' Blaine asked, looking at his boyfriend with concern.

'I'm fine Blaine, really. Sitting around and worrying about it won't change the judge's decision.' Kurt insisted.

Today was the day that Kurt's attacker was being sentenced. Blaine's phone call to the police had indeed led them to the man's computer where they found hundreds of images the man had taken of his victims. He had been arrested and linked to many crimes, a lot of which hadn't even come up on Blaine's investigation.

The discovery had created a media storm and the story came up almost every day in the news. It was one of the biggest stories to hit America for a long time.

'There's no way he's not going down, all the judge is deciding is how long for.' Kurt added. 'I might as well get on with my life. After all, I came so close to losing it all together.'

Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt's hands; he hated to think how close he had come to losing Kurt before he even had him.

'Alright guys it's time!' Mr Schuster appeared at the door again, ushering everyone out of the room and towards the stage.

Blaine gripped Kurt's hands even tighter as nerves threatened to take over once again.

'You ready?' Kurt grinned at him.

Blaine took a deep breath and looked into his boyfriends eyes. If Kurt was with him then everything was sure to be fine.

'I'm ready.'

**A big massive THANK YOU! To everyone who has been reading and commenting on this story, I've never enjoyed writing a series so much before and I owe it all to your wonderful reviews! I really hope you've enjoyed reading!**


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